


Reset

by JustBecause86



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Don’t copy to another site, F/F, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2020-07-08 00:40:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 57,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19860703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustBecause86/pseuds/JustBecause86
Summary: What could possible be more painful than falling in love with your best friend? Watching that best friend marry someone else.Six years passes until the two former best friends get a second chance at a happy ending. As always things are not so easy, and on top of it all there’s a murder mystery to be solved.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is clearly just a work of fiction

“You could at least pretend to be enjoying yourself,” Kelley says as he drops hard into the chair next to Tobin. The shorter woman wearing a pant suit very similar to the one Tobin current wears, black pants topped off with a white shirt and matching black jacket. While Tobin had opted to leave the first two button undone Kelley had busted open the top three.

Tobin attempts a fake smile, knowing it misses it marks she shrugs and says sarcastically, “How could I not be happy?” she shakes her head, “I just watched my best friend get married.”

“And yet you look like you’d rather be anywhere else but here,” Kelley chuckles. “What’s bugging you? You’re usually one of the biggest lives of the party.”

“Guess I’m not feeling much like partying,” Tobin shrugs as she picks up her cup from the table. Realizing it’s empty she lets it fall back to the table. “I’m not even sure why I’m here.”

“Because you’re Christen’s best friend,” Kelley answers, “and she asked you to be here.”

Tobin scoffs at her and reaches inside her jacket to the small pocket and produces a small flask. Twisting the top off she takes a quick sip, allowing the liquor to burn its way down her throat.

“You brought your own flask to a wedding?” Kelley chuckles. “That’s my level of bad.”

“I learn from the best,” Tobin lifts the flask in her direction and takes another sip.

“You wish you were as awesome as me,” Kelley smirks, sitting back in the chair and looking around the large room. “Hard to believe we’re at another wedding.”

Tobin huffs a laugh, “At this rate everyone on the team is going to be married before we try for another state championship.”

“Not everyone,” Kelley counters, “I can’t imagine either of us will be taking the leap anytime soon.”

“What about that girl you were talking about a few weeks ago?” Tobin asks, lifting an eyebrow in question.

Kelley snorts a laugh, “That’s going to require me to work up the nerve to actual asks her out.”

“Chicken,” Tobin teases with a grin.

“Looks who talking,” Kelley fires back, “When was the last time you were on a date?”

“Don’t have time for dates,” Tobin answers with a shrug.

“Someday, you will,” Kelley nods, looking around again. The reception was being held in a large room at a resort nestled along the coastline. From where they sit you can see the waves crashing against the rocks below. “This is a hell of a thing. Can you imagine loving someone this much?” she adds with a chuckle.

“You have no idea,” Tobin mumbles in a low voice, mostly to herself, and takes another swing from the flask in her hands.

“You’d better slow down or you’re not going to be ale to drive home,” Kelley cautions her friend.

“Forget that,” Tobin scoffs as she pushes her chair back from the table and stands up. “I think I’ve stayed the appropriate amount of time.”

“Tobin,” Kelley cautions, coming to her feet as well. Tobin stuffs the flask back into her pocket and Kelley warns, “Just don’t do anything stupid.”

Tobin smirks at her, “Nothing as stupid as you.” Kelley shakes her head but chuckle and for a moment Tobin can feels those drinks as her head spins just a little. Kelley wraps Tobin up in a friendly hug.

“Your ass better be at practice tomorrow,” Kelley warns with a grin as she takes a step back.

“You’re really going to make me get up tomorrow and work out?” Tobin moans. They didn’t have an official practice tomorrow but Kelley was big on making sure they all stayed in good shape.

“You know it,” Kelley smirks as she walks away.

“That looked an awful lot like a goodbye hug,” a voice comes from behind Tobin, making her freeze in place.

She takes a steadying breath and turns around, finding herself face to face with Christen Press, her best friend in this world. It didn’t matter what she wore either, evening dress, jeans and a t-shirt, or soccer gear, she looked elegant. Nothing short of stunning.

Today was, of course, no exception to that. Her wedding dress was fitted to her exactly, hugging her curves and wrapping around her neck, leaving her shoulders bare. The light white color made her dark skin glow. Tobin had tried most of the toady to avoid looking at her. Not that she didn’t want to, no, the exact opposite.

“Yea, actually,” Tobin manages a small nod, keeping her eyes down trying to avoid her friend’s gaze. Their years of friendship had left Tobin with a mixture of emotions and feelings, all of which coming to a head today. “You know me, parties really aren’t my thing and I’d hate to be a downer on your big day.”

“I do know you,” Christen smiles as she takes a step closer. “And you love parties.”

“Kelley’s making me get up early for practice tomorrow,” Tobin says as an excuse. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her look as beautiful as she does right now.

“You can’t leave, not yet,” Christen smiles at her and, for a second, Tobin thinks her heart stops. “We haven’t gotten to dance together yet.”

“It’s your wedding day Chris,” Tobin chuckles shortly, “Shouldn’t you be dancing with your husband?”

Christen throws a look over her shoulder to where Eric, her new husband, stands surrendered by a group of his friends, all drinking and laughing together.

Tobin’s never liked Eric, not since the first day she’d met him about two years ago. Christen had been going through a rough time back then, her mother had just passed away rather suddenly, and Tobin feared that she had never given herself the proper time to heal from that. It had been a tremendous loss to everyone but Chris had taken it so hard, they had been away at a soccer match when her mother had been rushed to the hospital. Christen, along with Tobin, had gone straight to the hospital when they had found out.

It wasn’t but a few week after that when Eric had strolled into Chris’s life. More like take over Chris’s life, Tobin thinks to herself with a sigh. Eric had managed to make sure he knew where Chris was at any given time and had managed to dampen Christen and Tobin’s friendship to the point that Tobin had barely seen her friend with Eric since then.

Tobin liked to think she was a pretty good at reading people, she’d been putting a lot into getting her degree in criminal justice, and had gotten nothing but bad vibes from Eric. She didn’t miss the way he looked at other girls every time they were out. It infuriated Tobin but her chance to do something about it had passed.

“I already danced with him,” Christen says, turning back to face Tobin, smile on her face. “Now I want to dance with you, just like we did at prom.”

Tobin can’t help but laugh at that memory, “Damn it Chris, the only reason we went together was to keep those idiot football players from harassing you the entire night.”

“Maybe,” Christen says with a shrug and smile, “but it was still one of my favorite nights to date. Besides,” she adds as she reaches out for Tobin’s hands, “today is my day and you’re not allowed to say no to the bride on her day.” Tobin hesitates, fighting the smile she can feel pulling at her lips, before caving in and lifting her hands, allowing Christen to taken them in her own.

“Like I could ever say no to you,” Tobin mutters under her breath as Christen starts to pull her towards the raised dance floor. Tobin tries to resist at first but before she knows it, they’re stepping up onto the dance floor together.

The second Tobin’s foot hits the dance floor the song changes to a slow one, and not just any slow song either, it’s the one they danced to years ago in high school.

“Seriously?” Tobin asks as they come to s stop raising an eyebrow in question, as Christen wraps one arm around Tobin’s shoulder and slides her other hand into Tobin’s. “You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”

Christen’s smile is telling enough but she answers, “You know I did,” and her eyes light up in a way Tobin hadn’t realized she’s missed seeing so much.

“You’re unbelievable,” Tobin chuckles but wraps an arm around Christen’s waist, lightly placing her hand at the small of Christen’s back and pulls her close. They start to move around the dance floor, just like they had in high school.

As they settle into each other, as they had done so many times in the past, Christen lightly rests her chin on Tobin’s shoulder, their heads touch and Christen’s cheek pressed against Tobin’s.

“Hush,” Christen jokes as she wraps her arm tighter around Tobin’s shoulders, “you know you can’t live without me.” Tobin can feel Christen smile and can’t help a small chuckle.

They dance in quiet and Tobin feels her mind start to wonder, back to the night when she had lost her chance with the wonderful woman in her arms.

_“Chris, come on,” Tobin calls from her place on her bed. They’d been having weekly movie nights at her apartment since they’d graduated high school._

_“I’ll be right there,” Chris calls from the bathroom. She’d come over straight from work and had wanted to take a shower before getting comfortable for the night. “You are insanely impatience,” she says a few minutes later as she walks out of the bathroom. Tobin had found a nice studio apartment, by nice she meant big enough for her to dribble in when she got bored._

_Tobin looks up from the TV, she’d been trying to decide what movie they should watch and sees Christen standing there._

_“Is that my robe?” Tobin asks after a heartbeat. She knows this because she’d pretty sure her heart stopped there._

_“I forgot to bring my clothes into the bathroom,” Christen shrugs as she walks the few steps from the bathroom door to where she’d left her bag, at the foot of Tobin’s bed._

_“But that’s my robe,” Tobin repeats, hoping that the quiver in her voice is only in her own ears._

_“You want it back?” Christen asks, lifting a teasing eyebrow and Tobin can’t help it when her jaw drops. Christen laughs at her as she grabs her clothes and disappears back into the bathroom. Tobin is grateful for the moment to compose herself. She wouldn’t lie and say she hasn’t had some level of a crush on Christen since they met but she had thought she had overcome it._

_“So, what are we watching?” Christen says as she reemerges from the bathroom, now wearing sweatpants and an old soccer league shirt._

_“Haven’t decided yet,” Tobin admits as she picks up the remote and starts scrolling through movies._

_“You’re yelling for me to hurry up and you hadn’t even picked a movie yet?” Christen laughs as she crawls into the bed and lays next to Tobin. “Let me pick.”_

_“No way,” Tobin snickers, “I’m not getting stuck watching some rom com thing again. That last one was terrible.”_

_“It was not,” Christen scoffs, “it was cute and romantic.”_

_“It was stupid and predictable,” Tobin counters, “I could have told you how it ended after the first two minutes.”_

_“Oh, you could not,” Christen says and reaches out for the remote._

_“Nope,” Tobin says stretching her arm as far away from the other girl as she could, “and yes I could.”_

_“You could not,” Christen argues and reaches across Tobin trying for the remote._

_“Yes, I could,” Tobin says, and she turns her head towards her friend, only then realizing how close they now are._

_Close enough that she can feel Christen’s warm breath on her cheek. Close enough that it would be only so easy to close the distance and place a kiss on the lips she’s longed for longer than she could remember._

_Tobin’s eyes meet Christen’s and there’s a moment where neither or them moves, or breaths in Tobin’s case anyway, and Tobin isn’t sure what she sees behind those green eyes._

_Finally, Tobin smiles and moves back just enough to hand the remote to Christen, who’s eyes finally break their hold on Tobin’s and look down. She slowly reaches out and takes the remote from Tobin’s hands, resting back against the headboard again._

“I know you don’t like Eric,” Christen says, jarring Tobin from the memory.

“He’s alright,” Tobin tries to sound casual but knows her voice doesn’t hold any conviction.

Christen pulls back just enough to be able to level Tobin with a look that says she knows better.

“Alright, you’re right,” Tobin admits with a shrug, “I don’t trust him, and I’m worried about you.”

“You always worry about me,” Christen says as she pulls Tobin close, resting her chin back on Tobin’s shoulder as they dance.

“That’s my job,” Tobin says with a small smile.

“I know,” Christen says with a small nod, “I am glad you come today though.”

“Of course I came,” Tobin says in a serious voice. “You asked me to be here.”

“I needed you here,” Christen admits resting herself fully against Tobin, playing with the hair at he back of her neck.

As the song continues Tobin pulls Christen close, trying to work up the courage to say what she knows she needs to, to do what she knows she has to.

Squeezing her eyes closed she swallows and says, “You’re my best friend Chris, you know that right?”

“I do,” Christen answers and Tobin can feel her lips moving against the side of her cheek.

“And you know that there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you?” Tobin continues.

“I know,” Chris nods.

Tobin takes a deep breath then says in a whisper, “I love you. Did you know that too?”

Christen doesn’t answer but her hold on Tobin tightens and Tobin can feel her nod again.

“I always have,” Tobin admits as the song comes to a close and they stop moving. Tobin can feel tears burning in her eyes and she squeezes them tighter, “and I always will.” She turns her head just enough to place a light kiss of Christen’s cheek.

Before she gives herself a chance to second guess what she just did and before Christen has a chance to react, Tobin takes a step back, then turns and steps down off the dance floor. She finally opens her eyes, feeling them sting but ignoring them as she makes her way straight from the dance floor to the door. She doesn’t stop and doesn’t look back, knowing that if she does she won’t be able to leave.

She doesn’t stop walking when she reaches the door, or when her feet hit the parking lot. She walks until she reaches her car, leaning against the driver’s side, folding her arms and resting them on the roof. With a sigh she lets her head fall forward until it’s resting on her folded arms.

“Well, that was intense,” Kelley’s voice says from behind her. Tobin sighs, wondering if she buries her head far enough into her arms if she can just disappear.

“What was?” Tobin asks, her voice breaking slightly as she does.

“That dance for starters,” Kelley answers as she leans her back against Tobin’s car. “You know, if I didn’t know any better, I would have thought it was you two that had just gotten married.”

“That’s not funny, Kel,” Tobin groans as she pushes herself away from her car, taking a step back. She knows her eyes must be red from the tears she still refuses to let fall.

“Believe it or not, Tob, I wasn’t trying to be funny,” Kelley answers in a serious voice, causing Tobin to finally look at her friend. Other than while out on the pitch during a tied match Tobin doesn’t think she’s ever seen Kelley look so serious. “I didn’t know,” Kelley offers.

“No body does,” Tobin sighs, shoving her hands into her suit pockets. “Not that it matters now anyway.”

“You’re in love with Christen,” Kelley says shaking her head, “That’s all that matters Tobin.”

“She choose Eric,” Tobin says, the words burning her throat and making her sick, “and I’m not just going to stand here anymore. I-“Tobin’s words get lost in her throat.

“It’s alright Tobin,” Kelley says, laying a supportive hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to figure it out on your own.”

“Yea?” Tobin croaks out a throaty laugh. “You and me then huh?’

“Well,” Kelley shrugs with a smile, “someone has to keep your ass in line.”

Tobin chuckles, this time a real chuckle, “Now that’s a terrifying thought.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life goes on.  
> Six years after their dance together Tobin is now working as a homicide detective in New Jersey and finds herself working on a case that will be bigger than anything she's ever seen before.  
> Christen, who had been living on the opposite side of the country, now finds herself moving home after a nasty divorce.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After many request, here it is, Chapter Two. Stick with me on this one because happy endings don't usually happen overnight.

Tobin sighs heavily as she puts her car in park along the curb in front of a large apartment building. Her and Kelley have been partners in the local police department for the last four years. They’d finished their last two years of college together, Kelley working her ass off because she had decided to change majors and join Tobin in the Criminal Justice Department.

It’s taken her a lot of work, but she had managed to get caught up. Not only caught up but she had one of the highest GPAs of their graduating years. Kelley had suggested they take the summer off and enjoy it before they dived into the world of policing.

Tobin hadn’t been sure at the time and had hesitated, she was still in a funk over what had happened at Christen’s wedding. She knew that Kelley was well aware of what had been causing Tobin’s funky attitude and had made it her mission to drag Tobin out of it.

That had surprised Tobin more than anything else. Kelley had been Christen’s friend, not Tobin’s, during their high school years and for half of their college life.

Something had happened that day, six years ago, when Kelley had followed Tobin out to the parking lot after that dance, that had started a friendship that was unlike any Tobin had in her life. Tobin never would have guessed back then, her and Kelley couldn’t be more opposite most times.

Like right now, Tobin was always on time, early as a matter of fact, and Kelley, well she was almost always late.

Tobin sighs again and opens her car door, stepping out and walking around the front and onto the sidewalk. Just like every morning Kelley was supposed to meet Tobin on the sidewalk out front of her apartment, and like most mornings she was nowhere to be seen.

Taking the stairs two at a time she makes it to the third floor in a matter of seconds. She takes a left and stops at the fifth door on her right. She stops, knocks three times and waits.

Tobin waits, knowing full the door is about to swing open. Sure enough it does, revealing a woman a few inches shorter than Tobin, with medium length brown hair, currently tied back in a pony tail, wearing a knee length skirt and matching suit jacket. She gives Tobin a smile and shakes her head.

“She’s in the shower,” the other woman offers as she steps aside, letting Tobin into the apartment.

“Janice, I don’t know how you put up with her,” Tobin chuckles as she closes the door to their apartment. Janice, Kelley’s now long time girlfriend, pulls a coffee mug out of the cabinet and sets in on the counter for Tobin.

“She has her moments,” Janice smiles, “and the coffee’s hot. Help yourself, unlike my beautiful girlfriend, I don’t plan on being late for work today.”

“You’re the best,” Tobin with a quick, one arm hug to Janice as the woman grabs her to go coffee and heads out the door.

“Just remind her that we have plan tonight,” Janice says as the door closes.

Tobin chuckles as she pours herself a cup of coffee and leans back against the counter behind her. A few minutes later she hears the sound of a door opening then closing, followed by the voice of her closest friend.

“Hon, what time is it?” Kelley’s voice comes through the bedroom door.

“Time for your ass to learn to be on time,” Tobin replies with a grin.

“Tob?” Kelley asks and the door to the bedroom swings open, revealing Kelley wrapped in a towel, looking surprised.

“Jesus Kel,” Tobin says setting her mug on the counter, “Will you put on some damn clothes?”

“First, it’s my apartment, so no,” Kelley says with a smug smile, “Second, what time is it? And third, where’s my girlfriend?”

“You’re unbelievable,” Tobin says with a smile, “It’s almost eight, so we’re late and Janice, unlike us, left so she could be to her job on time.”

“I didn’t hear my alarm go off,” Kelley shrugs as she turns back to her room, leaving the door open this time.

“Why is it that when you use that excuse it’s fine,” Tobin asks, calling after Kelley, “but when I do I’m just being lazy?”

“Double standards,” Kelley shouts back with a laugh.

“I knew you were going to say that!” Tobin calls after her friend and is meant with another round of laughter. “I’m going to call in to dispatch and let them know we’re running late because my partner needs to finish her hair and makeup.”

“Please do,” Kelley says and judging by how far away her voice is, she’s back in the bathroom. “That Kyle kid still thinks he has a chance with me. I’m sure it’ll get him all flustered.”

“He does know you have a girlfriend, right?” Tobin asks as she pulls her phone from her inside jacket pocket. She’d long ago learned that she preferred suits to pretty much anything else, so when her and Kelley had made detectives at the same time, she had been happy to go from uniform back to her suits.

“Yep,” Kelley answers, “doesn’t seem to faze him though.”

“Kids,” Tobin mumbles to herself as she swipes open her phone and pulls up the number for dispatch.

At the age of twenty-six Tobin and Kelley found themselves in a strange age range in their precinct. They had been older than most of the others when they had been on patrol, having gone to college instead of straight into the academy, but since they had their degrees, they had been able to make the jump from patrol to detective in only a year.

That also meant that, unlike most of the other detectives who had spent years on patrol before making the jump, they were the youngest two there.

As Kelley had nicely put it one day, “We don’t fit in either place here because we’re making our own, and it’s going to be fucking spectacular.”

Before Tobin has the chance to push the dial button on her phone, it starts to ring, casing her to nearly drop the thing in surprise.

With a sigh she swipes it to answer and lifts the phone to her ear, “Heath.”

“Detective Heath,” response a voice Tobin has become familiar with over the last few months.

 _Of course it’s Kyle_ , Tobin chuckles inwardly. “Yea, I know we’re running a bit late. I was just about to call in.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Kyle replies and Tobin can practically see his dopey grin. “They asked me to call you and tell you that there’s a body in alley between 8th and 9th and to tell you to head right there instead of coming in.”

Tobin pulls out the small notebook she always keeps in her back pants pocket, flips it open and jots down the address, “8th and 9th,” she mutters out loud as she writes it down, “Alright. Let them know we’ll be there soon.”

“Copy that,” Kyle says and before he has the chance to say anything else, Tobin ends the call.

“Kelley,” Tobin calls again, “We caught a case, move your ass.”

**

“All I’m saying,” Kelley says as she put her shoe up on the dashboard so she can finish tying her shoes, “is that it would be nice to go out as a group of four, instead of having you moping behind Janice and I every time.’”

“First off, get your feet off my dash,” Tobin says, reaching over from the driver’s side and swatting at Kelley’s leg. “and secondly, I don’t mope.”

“Right,” Kelley draws the word out as she slides her shoe from the dash. She hesitates before adding, “So, there’s this teacher that works with Janice.”

“Nope,” Tobin cuts her off with a shake of her head, “I’m not doing another one of your blind date, hook up thing.”

“If you’d just give the girls a chance,” Kelley counters, leaning against the passenger side door and looking at her partner.

“Kelley,” Tobin sighs as she takes a corner, “I’m really just not.”

“Interested,” Kelley says, cutting her off, “Yea, I know. I’ve been hearing that a lot in the last couple of years.”

“Think you’d get the hint,” Tobin mumbles and Kelley rolls her eyes.

“No, I get it,” Kelley says with a nod, “my point is, just because things with Chris.”

“Looks like we’re here,” Tobin says, her turn now to cut Kelley off, as they turn into a small alley between two main streets. She’s put the car in park, unfastens her seat belt and looks at Kelley with a serious face, “and I don’t want to talk about her.”

Kelley shakes her head as she watches Tobin exit the car, “What else is new,” she mumbles under her breath before climbing out of the car behind Tobin. While Kelley hadn’t gone as far as literally making Tobin sit down and talk about what had happened that night, six years ago, when she had walked out of Christen’s wedding, she’s tried many times over the last six years to get her to talk about it.

Kelley knew that Tobin had been mending a broken and bleeding heart since that day, which was only part of the reason Kelley had chosen to stay with the woman all this time. Prior to the wedding Kelley had only known Tobin through her friendship with Christen, who she’d known since middle school.

Kelley closed her car door and straightened her suit jacket, at first she had rebelled some at Tobin’s suggestion then insistence that Kelley start dressing like a responsible adult, but to her surprise she had started to like them. _Janice likes them too_ , Kelley thinks with a smile as she steps under the crime scene tape stretched across the alley.

“Well, damn,” Kelley mutters as she steps up next to Tobin, who is looking down at a body in the middle of the alley.

Laying nearly centered in the alley, next to a dumpster that has clearly gone well past its pick up date, with her hands laid across her chest and clothed in only a bra and pair on panties, is a young woman. It would be impossible to tell her age or gender, if it had not been for the state of her clothes, due to the plastic bag still over her head.

Crime scene techs and the Coroner’s office officials worked around the area, collecting evidence and marking some early findings. Kelley stepped around Tobin, and the body, and walked up to one of the techs she’s known for a few years now.

“Hey Tony,” Kelley nods towards the tech, “got anything yet?”

“Some early findings,” Tony shrugs, “looks like she’s been here since early this morning.”

“How can you tell?” Kelley asks, looking back down at the body in front of them.

“It rained last night around midnight,” Tobin answers, not looking up, “she’s dry. She was dropped off here after that, probably by two.”

“That’d be a good guess,” Tony nods. “Not a lot of trace we can get from here. Containment from the dumpster, which we’ll search as well.”

“Have fun with that,” Kelley smiles at the man. She looks back at her partner, who has yet to take her eyes from the body on the ground.

“She ok?” Tony asks Kelley as his eyes land on Tobin as well.

“Oh yea,” Kelley sighs, “she’s just taking everything in right now. Few more minutes and she’ll have it all committed to memory.”

“Every freak you out she can do that?” Tony asks as he takes an evidence bag from another tech and writes on it before sealing it.

“All the time,” Kelley nods.

“You two do know I can hear you right?” Tobin finally says as she looks up at them. “Did the Coroner’s Office get a liver temp?” she asks looking to Tony.

“Yea, one second,” he answers as he crouches down, placing the evidence bag inside a larger, paper bag, and pulling out a clipboard. He flips a few pages and answers, “Temp was 76.4. He’s estimating she’s been dead about fifteen hours.”

“Wasn’t killed here,” Kelley nods, “Guess your theory was right,” she says to Tobin who just nods and kneels down next to the girl. Kelley gives her partner the time she needs to observe their crime scene.

Even back when they were still in college, and Kelley was busting her ass to get caught up after changing majors, it was clear to her that Tobin had a knack of investigation. The woman rarely ever missed any details. Tobin also had a mind that never seemed to stop working, something that Kelley often worried about. She could count on one hand the number of times since college she had looked at Tobin and not seen her deep in thought or with her brows furrowed in worry. In fact, if Kelley was being honest, she hadn’t seen Tobin look happy in the last six years.

“Alright,” Tobin says as she cones back to her full height and nods at Kelley, “Let us know when they get the autopsy done,” she adds to Tony, who nods in acknowledgement.

Kelley chuckles but steps back over to stand beside her partner, “I’m going to talk to the uniforms and set up a canvas area, see if anyone say anything.”

“Fat chance,” Tobin snorts a laugh. “When was the last time anyone say anything around here?”

“We live in New Jersey,” Kelley scoffs, “What else do you expect?”

**

Christen could still remember the last time she had sat in this coffee shop, the one a few blocks away from where they had all gone to college together. It had quickly become their small groups favorite place to visit, far enough from campus that it was rarely ever as crowded as the ones closer, but it was still close enough that they walked there at least once a day and usually met there every night after class.

Their little group had become such regulars that the owners, a nice older man and his wife, had started making sure that their favorite corner table was clear when they got there.

 _Back when there was still an ‘us’_ , Christen thinks to herself as she picks up her order from the counter. She didn’t recognize any of the people working behind the counter today, no doubt it was an entirely different group then when she had last been here.

She takes a seat at an open table near the front, placing her coffee down in front of her with a sigh.

Coming back here had been a bigger roller coaster of emotions than she had been anticipating. She had thought that coming back to one of her favorite places would help, but it had the opposite effect.

During the first two years of college life this place had seemed like a second home, she’d studied for every test and exam here and had even finished some major projects here, but today it felt like any other coffee shop.

 _And I know why it doesn’t feel the same_ , Christen thinks as she looks out the window to the street beyond. It’s the same reason why the place stopped feeling like home after their second year, after she had gotten married. Something had always been missing after that.

She looks down at her hands, spreading them out on the tabletop as she does. Her wedding ring, no longer on her finger, had left its mark on her finger and she prayed that over time it would fade, along with the memories of the disaster that had been her marriage.

The only other ring she wears sits on the ring finger of her right hand and had been there since her junior year in high school. It was the one that Tobin had given her as a birthday present, and it matched the one that Tobin wore every day. Despite how things had happened, Christen had never taken it off. Something that had caused more than one fight with Eric over the years.

“Chris!” she hears her voice said excitedly and she jumps a little, not having realized just how deep in thought she had been. She smiles when she sees Alex walking over to her table, a wide smile spread across her face.

Christen stands as Alex reaches the table and throws her arms around Christen, “I can’t believe you’re finally home!”

“It’s good to be back,” Christen smiles into the hug and can’t help but laugh as Alex squeezes her tighter before letting her go, pulling her to arm’s length to look her over.

“You look great,” Alex beams at her.

“Now you’re lying,” Christen smiles and shakes her head as they both sit at the table.

“Seriously, Chris, you look great,” Alex repeats as she gets settled. “How is moving in with your dad going?”

“Good,” Christen nods, looking down at her drink again, “I think he likes having us here, I’m just worried that it’ll be too much for him. Things aren’t exactly the same as they were when I lived there back in high school.”

“Yea, but your dad is a champ,” Alex smiles.

“He is,” Christen nods her agreement, “but having a four year old running around is a lot some days.”

“Speaking of my adorable niece,” Alex’s smile grows with her words. While, technically speaking, they weren’t related, they had been as close as sisters for years. “I’ve been here three minutes and haven’t gotten to see any new pictures.”

Christen shakes her head again but pulls her phone out of her purse and swipes it open, “These are about as new as they get,” Christen says as she holds the phone out to Alex.

Alex takes the offered phone and all but squeals, “She is so adorable.”

She hands the phone back to Christen, who looks down at it and smiles. The picture had been taken this morning at breakfast, the small dark haired girl, was sitting at the breakfast bar, spoon in hand, with a large cheesy smile on her face.

“She looks like a smaller version of you,” Alex comments after a moment.

“She does,” Christen agrees with a small nod. She watches the picture until the screen goes dark before she lifts her eyes back to her friend, who is sitting patiently across from her. “Sorry,” she says with a weak smile, “It’s been a long few weeks.”

“I can just imagine,” Alex nods simply. “I wouldn’t think that going through a divorce is anyone’s idea of fun.”

“Not really,” Christen sighs heavily. “I just keep,” she hesitates then finishes, “I just keep feeling like I failed somehow.”

“Chris,” Alex says in a low voice, “it wasn’t your fault. Eric,” she starts but Christen stops her with a wave of her hand.

“I know,” Christen sighs, “but I really don’t want to talk about it right now. All I want to focus on now is finding a new job and figuring out what Anna and I are going to do now.”

“Well,” Alex says at length, “if you’re still interested in teaching, I know someone that works at a really great school nearby. She might be able to help you out.”

“Really?” Christen asks, raising an eyebrow, “Hang on, who’s the friend?”

“Kelley’s girlfriend,” Alex admits with a shrug.

“You want me to ask Janice for a job?” Christen shakes her head, “She doesn’t even know me, not really.”

“No, but she knows Kelley and she knows me and we’ll vouche for you,” Alex answers.

“That’s comforting,” Christen chuckles then ask, “How is Kelley? I haven’t talked to her since before the divorce was finalized.”

“Good,” Alex nods, “works all the time now. Homicide detective is apparently demanding. Her and Tobin,” Alex stops as the word leaves her lips and looks at Christen. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Christen manages a small, fake, chuckle. “I know her and Kelley are working together. They have been.”

“Yea, I know,” Alex shrugs, “I just didn’t want to bring up, you know, what happened.”

“Nothing happened,” Christen says, turning her head to look out the window again. “We danced, talked and she left. No fight, no argument, no hard feelings, and the next thing I knew Eric was moving me to the other side of the country. Now it feels like it all happened so fast, it’s just a blur of memory.”

“I’m sorry Chris,” Alex says in a sigh. “but, look on the bright side.” When Christen turns back to look at her she continues, “Now that you’re back, you get to start over.”

“That is the plan,” Christen says with a smile.


	3. Chapter 3

“Dad,” Christen calls as she closes the front door behind her, “Dad, I’m back.”

“In the living room,” her father calls. Christen shrugs out of her light jacket and hangs it on a hook by the front door. It was early May and, while it wasn’t exactly cold outside, Christen never liked cool weather. Something that her friends had enjoyed giving her a hard time about, something she hadn’t realized she’d missed so much.

She walks the short distance from the front door to the living room of her father’s house. There had been a time, not long after her mother had passed away, that Christen had thought her father was going to sell the house they had lived in since she was in high school. He had mentioned, more than one, that he wasn’t sure how he felt living in the big house by himself, but in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to sell it.

“How was lunch with Alex?” her father asks as she sits on the couch beside him.

“Good, we got caught up,” Christen says with a smile. She looks around the room, the too quiet room, and asks, “Where’s Anna?”

“Oh right,” he father answers, lowering his paper and pulling his reading glasses off and looking at her, “That’s what I was supposed to be doing. Babysitting.”

“Dad,” Christen says with a smile, “You’re not funny.”

“I’m hilarious,” he smiles back at her but adds, “Anna is sleeping in her room. Went down about half an hour ago.”

“Thank you,” Christen smiles as she relaxes back against the couch.

“How’s Alex?” her father asks, as he picks up his newspaper again.

“Good,” she answers with a nod. “She says Kelley’s girlfriend might be able to help me find a job.”

“Janice?” her father asks with a nod. “She’s a good girl, keeps Kelley honest.”

“I swear, you know more about the girls I went to school with then I do now,” Christen huffs.

“I like to keep in touch,” her father nods with a smile. “Have you talked to Tobin since you’ve been back?”

The question completely catches Christen off guard, she had expected it from Alex, just not from her own father.

“Um, no,” she answers, “I haven’t talked to her in…. well, it’s been awhile.”

“You mean since the wedding,” her father answers, lowering his paper again. This time he folds it and lays it on the couch beside him.

“Yes dad,” Christen says, trying to keep her voice level, “I haven’t seen her since the wedding. Not since.”

“I know,” her father nods. “It’s not been easy for either of you.”

“How, how do you know how it’s been for her?” Christen asks, confused.

“She’s come over almost every Sunday since you left,” her father answers with a smile.

“She what?” Christen asks, sitting up and looking at her father.

“Started right after you moved to LA,” he nods. “Said she was worried about me being here by myself.”

“She did?” Christen asks, this time her voice a bit softer.

“Yea, though I think that by now she enjoys it as much as I do,” her father smiles. “You should reach out and let her know you’re back.”

“Dad,” Christen say sat length, “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“Because,” her father leads.

“Because,” she sighs and flops back on the couch, “because the last time I saw her, she told me she loved me and walked away.”

“Hmm,” is her father’s only response. He doesn’t seem surprised and Christen guess that Tobin must have told him at some point in the last six years.

“Not to mention that she hasn’t responded to anything I’ve sent her over the years,” Christen continues. “None of the birthday cards or Christmas cards, not even Anna’s birth announcement.”

“Honey,” he father says patiently, “have you ever considered that seeing you and your husband’s smiling faces on all those holiday cards, or announcing that you were having a baby, was, perhaps a lot to asks of someone that was in love with you?”

Christen is quiet for a moment as she processes that. While they had managed to send out the ‘happy family’ Christmas cards every year they had been far from it.

What Christen thought had been her happy ending to a fairy tale ended up to be the exact opposite. They had gotten married between their second and third years of college and before the term could start up again Eric had gotten a job offer in LA. He’d convinced her that moving to the other side of the country was exactly what their new marriage needed.

In reality, and what Christen had failed to see at that time, was that this had been the most effective way of cutting her off from everyone she knew, anyone that could be her lifeline. They’d barely been in LA a month before the abuse had started.

“I guess, I hadn’t thought of it like that,” Christen admits with a nod.

“I didn’t think so,” her father smiles patiently. “She’s a good girl, works too much but still. You know they all still play soccer together in a local club?”

“Alex mentioned that yes,” Christen says with a nod, still a bit lost in thought, “but she didn’t mention…”

“Tobin,” her father offers after a moment passes.

“Yea,” Christen answers softly. She’s not sure why her name is so hard for her to say still. It’s not that she hasn’t thought about the other woman over the years. Quite the opposite in fact, Christen had lost count of the days she had thought about her, or the day when she wished she could just go back to high school, back when things were better.

“Honey,” her father says, breaking into her thoughts again, “let her know you’re home, she’ll be happy to see you.”

“What do I do dad?” Christen asks, her voice nearly pleading, “Call her and say, ‘Hey, I haven’t seen you since you told me you loved me, but I’m back in town, wanna be friends again?’”

“Something like that,” her father answers as he attempts to keep the smile from his face.

“You’re less then helpful,” Christen says but smiles despite herself.

There had been so many times throughout the years that Christen had wanted to reach out, to find where Tobin was or what she was doing. To know if she still had a friend waiting for her, a friend that loved her. Most of all Christen had wondered so many times if she had missed her chance with Tobin.

**

“Kelley, did Tony ever send over his report from the crime scene?” Tobin asks without looking up from the preliminary report from the Coroner’s Office.

“Nope,” Kelley answers as she plops down a wrapped package in the middle of Tobin’s desk.

“What’s this?” Tobin asks as she looks up at Kelley, who’s standing next to her desk.

“Lunch,” Kelley answers. “You skipped breakfast, and no coffee doesn’t count, so you can’t skip lunch.”

“What is it with you and food?” Tobin asks with a shake of her head.

“I like it,” Kelley shrugs. “Lunch, then I’ll tell you what Tony’s report said.”

“You do know blackmailing a police officer if illegal right?” Tobin asks with a smile.

“I’m still not afraid of you Heath,” Kelley chuckles as she sits down at her own desk. Their desks sit face to face, pressed together in the middle of the station, so they can talk from their desk with ease.

“You pick these up from Philip’s shop?” Tobin asks as she starts to unwrap her lunch. Philip’s store was about a block from the station and made some of the best sandwiches in town.

“Yep,” Kelley pops the p as she unwraps her own sandwich. “He says you need to stop working so much and come down to his shop more. I think he still wants to set you up with his niece.”

“I don’t know how many times I have to tell him, his niece is sweet and all but,” Tobin starts but Kelley cuts her off.

“Not interested,” Kelley shakes her head and takes a big bite out of her sandwich, closing her eyes as she does.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone like food as much as you do,” Tobin chuckles as she takes a bite of her own sandwich.

“Janice keeps saying she thinks my soul mate is food,” Kelley says around her mouthful of sandwich.

Tobin chuckles, “That’s pretty bad when even your girlfriend knows how hopeless you are.”

“I’m not hopeless,” Kelley counters as she holds up a file, “I’m fucking awesome.” She tosses the file the short distance and it lands on Tobin’s desk, next to her lunch. “That’s Tony’s initial report from the crime scene. Skip to page two,” she adds taking another bite of her own lunch.

Tobin swallow her bite of food and flips open the file, skipping right to page two.

“This is a joke, right?” Tobin asks, looking from the file to Kelley.

“Nope,” Kelley shakes her head, “It’s still preliminary but yea, that’s all they were able to find so far.”

“Blue chalk?” Tobin asks as she looks back at the file on her desk. “What? Our guys goes out to shot pool, decides he’s going to abduct a girl, kill her and dump her in an alley?”

“You’re the mastermind here,” Kelley answers through another mouthful of food.

“Remind me, what’s your job here again?” Tobin asks her, looking over the top of the file with a smile.

“I’m here to make you look good,” Kelley answers leaning back in her chair with a wicked smile.

Tobin rolls her eyes and looks back at the report in her hands, “I want to go down to the Coroner’s Office and see what they have.”

“Eat your sandwich,” Kelley orders, not making a move to get up.

“You know you’re not my mother, right?” Tobin asks but picks up her sandwich anyway.

“I know, but your mother loves me,” Kelley smiles her wide goofy smile.

“Of course, she does,” Tobin nods, “You’re the one that makes sure I go visit every weekend.”

“Speaking of weekends,” Kelley says with a grin, “it’s Thursday.”

“Kelley, come on,” Tobin groans as she takes a bite of her sandwich. “We just picked up a homicide, you’re really going to make me go to practice the next two days?”

“We have a game Saturday,” Kelley shrugs as though that answers everything. “You work your mind here and your body out on the pitch.”

“Says the woman that can do thirty pull ups like its nothing,” Tobin smiles.

“Don’t be jealous,” Kelley grins back.

Tobin rolls her eyes and turns back to the report in front of her. Blue chalk wasn’t much to go on but so far it was all they had. What caught Tobin’s attention was the fact that the only place they had found the chalk had been on their victim. It was on her clothes and in her hair but no where else.

In fact, there was next to nothing around the body, which was strange when you consider the fact that she’d been found in an alley. Alley ways in New Jersey were not well known for their cleanliness.

“Is it just me or does this alley looks like the cleanest alley in New Jersey?” Tobin asks as she holds up one of the crime scenes pictures.

“The body was next to a dumpster,” Kelley answers back. “So it wasn’t that clean.”

“Kelley,” Tobin huffs, “I know there’s dumpster but look at the ground. What would you expect to see on the ground near a dumpster like that?”

“A few years’ worth of trash,” Kelley shrugs, “All the stuff that didn’t make it from the dumpster to the trash truck, or shit people just didn’t care if it made it into the trash or not.”

“Exactly,” Tobin says as she sends the picture through the air where it lands on Kelley’s desk.

Kelley picks up the picture and looks it over closely, “Huh, nothing.”

“Yea, nothing,” Tobin nods, “Nothing from the dumpster, nothing from all the years that thing has sat there. Not a damn thing.”

“So, our guy cleaned the alley before he dropped our victim off?” Kelley asks as she looks from the picture to Tobin.

“After his pool game,” Tobin shakes her head, “or before, I don’t know but this guy cleans up after himself. I’m guessing we won’t find much.”

“Of course, can’t catch an easy one can we?” Kelley sighs, turning her eyes back to the picture.

“Why start now?” Tobin answers with a smirk.

“So, it’s not just my imagination,” Kelley says looking back at Tobin, “They do stick us with the shit no one else wants.”

“Perks of being the youngest detective team in the city,” Tobin says with a shrug.

They’re silent for a few moments as they both look over the evidence they currently have.

“Hey, before I forget,” Kelley speaks up, “we’re doing breakfast with Alex tomorrow before work.”

“Since when did you become my personal planner?” Tobin asks but with a smile.

“College,” Kelley answers without missing a beat, “about the same time you became my style guru.”

“Hey, you thanked me for that,” Tobin fires back, “so did Janice for that matter.”

“Conspiring with my girlfriend,” Kelley chuckles.

“Who else is coming to the day before game breakfast?” Tobin asks, with a shake of her head.

“Alex, Ali and Ashlyn,” Kelley answers, ticking off the names on her fingers, “We have a lot of friends with A names,” she adds with a chuckle.

“Guess I never thought about it,” Tobin answers as her the phone on her desk rings and she answers it, “Heath.”

Kelley watches her as she scribbles down a few notes, then sits the phone back down with a sigh.

“Do I want to know?” Kelley asks, lifting an eyebrow in question.

“They were able to get an ID on our victim,” Tobin answers, “Veronica Spade, from South Dakota.”

“She’s a long way from home,” Kelley nods, “Visiting?”

“That’s what we get to find out,” Tobin sighs. “The Coroner’s office is making the notification now and someone is going to have to come identify her and claim her.”

“And we get to interview the parents,” Kelley cringes. While Kelley had proven to be a quick study in the field of all things police and had excelled in it since the day she’d cracked open her first criminal justice book back in college, the one area she was still hesitant in was interviewing family members of their victims.

Interviews were an important part of their job. Evidence and intuition were one thing but a large part of what lead them to solving a case was the interviews they obtained. It could lead them to evidence or help them to discover the motive behind a crime.

Kelley was actually a top interviewer, she could talk a suspect around in circles until the truth fell out of them or wait out a stubborn suspect until they finally cracked and gave her what she wanted.

Interviewing witness and bystanders was something else she had become rather good at as well. Trying to convince people that the police were, in fact, not the bad guys and that their statements would help the victims had become a kind of art of her. She was good at it.

Just not with the victims’ families, it hit just a little too close to home for her.

“I’ll handle the family interviews but you have to go down to the lab and see where they’re at with what they collected this morning,” Tobin offers. She knows her friend’s past and did whatever she could to make things better for her. It was the least Tobin could do after everything Kelley had done for her over the last six years.

“Deal,” Kelley says with a smile, “but you can’t skip out on breakfast tomorrow like you always do.”

Tobin groans, of course Kelley would bring that up, “Fine, deal,” she says with a nod

**

Christen had just finished putting the last dish away from their dinner when she heard her phone vibrate against the kitchen counter. She glances over to make sure that Anna had followed her father into the living room after dinner.

Despite the small amount of time Anna has had with her grandfather over the years, something that Christen knew she’d regret for a long time, the little girl had taken to following him everywhere.

Her father was a retired school teacher, a big part of why Christen was now too, and was more than happy to have Anna around all day.

She dries her hands and quickly picks up her phone, swiping it to answer as she lifts it to her ear.

“Hello,” she answers.

“Hey, it’s me,” Alex’s voice comes through the line. “Are you free tomorrow morning?”

“Um, I guess so,” Christen hesitates, “I’d have to check with dad to make sure he can watch Anna. What’s up?”

“We have a game on Saturday and a few of us get together the day before for breakfast,” Alex explains. “You should come, I know that everyone would love to see you. Kelley will be there.”

“It would be great to see everyone,” Christen says with a smile, but hesitates. “Will….”

“Tobin is on the team,” Alex admits but adds, “She’s only come to breakfast twice and its been forever. I doubt she’ll be there. Besides, her and Kelley caught a case so she’s probably all wrapped up in that.”

“I’m not avoiding her,” Christen says without thinking about it. “I just mean.”

“It’s not a big deal Chris,” Alex cuts in. “If you’re not up to seeing Tobin no one says you have to.”

“It’s not,” Christen sighs and shakes her head at herself. “Yea, I’d like to do breakfast and see everyone.”

“Perfect,” and Christen can hear Alex’s smile through the phone.

“Just tell me when and where,” Christen smiles, “and I’ll be there.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's the reunion everyone's been waiting for.

“You know it would be nice to, just once, not have to come knock your door down in the morning,” Tobin complains as Kelley opens the door to her apartment the next morning, “and why are you answering the door in a towel?” Tobin adds when she finally realizes that her partner, had in fact, opened the door wearing only a towel.

“Because my partner was beating my door down and I was in the shower,” Kelley answers as she walks back into the apartment.

“Because you weren’t down at the curb, again,” Tobin says as she steps inside and closes the door behind her.

“Because I was in the shower,” Kelley mumbles as she walks though the apartment.

“Why’d Janice leave early?” Tobin asks as she steps into the kitchen.

“Because I’m an asshole,” Kelley answers as she walks back into her room, not bothering to close the door.

Something in Kelley’s voice keeps Tobin from asking anything more and she sits herself down on a bar stool next to the breakfast bar. She’s seen her friend like this more than once over the years, her eyes red and puffy, bags beneath them, her shoulder slumped like the weight of the world sits on them.

 _In many ways_ , Tobin thinks, it does.

Tobin remembers when she had first met Kelley, back in high school, she’d thought the girl had come across arrogant, cocky even. It had taken time, and one very bad night for her to learn the truth about the shorter woman.

_Tobin had never really been the type to like to go out drinking and partying. She’d usually prefer the stay at home and relax in comfortable pants, maybe kick the soccer ball around the house or yard in front of their dorms._

_She knew that didn’t make her very popular among the other college students, but she also didn’t really care. She had her core group of friends, mostly all the girls from the soccer team, beyond that she didn’t worry about other people._

_That’s why it was so strange that she was walking into one of the many clubs that surrender their college campus._

_The music was pumping loudly through speakers placed all around the small dance floor that took up the majority of the space. Tobin can feel the floor beneath her feet vibrate with the noise and by the time she makes it to the actual dance floor, her head is pounding._

_It doesn’t take her long to find who she came here looking for. Dancing in the middle of the floor, between two other bodies, hands raised above her hand, is Kelley. The two bodies closing in around her aren’t ones that Tobin recognizes and she sighs as she pushes through the crowd and makes her way towards Kelley._

_“Kelley,” she calls over the music, her voice drowned out almost immediately._

_There’s no response so Tobin continues to push her way through until she’s able to reach out and take Kelley by the elbow._

_“Kelley,” she repeats, this time close enough that the other girl turns and looks at her._

_“Tobin!” Kelley exclaims happily. She’s clearly been drinking._

_“Come on,” Tobin says, “We need to go back to the dorms.”_

_“What? No, you just got here,” Kelley objects with a shake of her head._

_“I came here to find you,” Tobin shouts over the music. “Chris said she was worried about you.” Which was the only reason Tobin was out here. Tobin had been surprised when Christen had knocked on her door so late at night. Chris wasn’t typically the one to stay up this late so Tobin knew something had been wrong._

_She really didn’t know Kelley that well but she did know Christen, if she was being honest she’d been falling in love with her since the day they’d met. She promised Christen that she’d help find Kelley and make sure she was alright._

_“Chris worries too much,” Kelley says as one of the guys that had been dancing close by steps up to Tobin._

_“She’s already dancing with someone,” he says, looking at Tobin as though to say back off._

_“She’s done dancing,” Tobin responds, her hand still on Kelley’s elbow, “so back off.”_

_“Not a chance,” he says, putting her arm around Kelley’s waist and pulling her away just slightly. “She’s mine.”_

_“Excuse me,” Tobin says, her eyes widening as she reaches out and grabs the guys arm, pushing him away from Kelley._

_“Who the hell are you?” the guy sneers at Tobin and she feels her face flush with anger._

_“She’s with me,” Kelley says, throwing her arms around Tobin’s neck, surprising both the guy and Tobin._

_“Whatever,” the guy mumbles and walks away._

_“What the hell Kelley?” Tobin asks, still a bit shocked by the last few seconds._

_“You looked like you were going to punch the guy,” Kelley says still moving with the music despite Tobin standing still._

_“He was being an asshole,” Tobin answers._

_“We aren’t friends,” Kelley says plainly._

_“It wouldn’t matter if we were strangers Kelley,” Tobin answers with a sigh, “it’s not ok for someone to treat you like that.”_

_Kelley doesn’t say anything after that and for a moment Tobin was worried she was more drunk than she’d thought._

_“We should go,” Tobin says again, this time Kelley nods her agreement. Tobin doesn’t wait for her to say anything but takes Kelley’s hand and turns to leave the dance floor._

_In a matter of a few seconds they go from the crowded, loud dance floor to the brisk color fall air as they step out of the club and stand on the sidewalk._

_Tobin waits a moment before asking, “You ok?”_

_“Peachy,” is Kelley’s immediate response, she’s looking down at her feet and kicks the sidewalk._

_“My car’s over here,” Tobin says as she leads the way to where she’d parked. Kelley follows her, swaying slightly as she does, which does not go unnoticed by Tobin._

_“I have one rule,” Tobin says as she stops by the passenger side door and unlocks it, “no puking in my car.”_

_“Only wimps puke,” Kelley says with an attempt at a smile._

_“Good,” Tobin says opening the door. She waits until Kelley falls down into the passenger seat, then closes the door and circles her car._

_They drive in silence for a few minutes before Tobin sighs and admits, “Chris told me this was some kind of bad anniversary for you.”_

_Kelley puffs out a breath, “That’s one way to put it.”_

_“I’m only telling you she told me that in case you wanted to talk,” Tobin offers. “I mean, I’m not good at it but still…”_

_Kelley shakes her head and continues to look out the window as the city lights flash by._

“You ready for breakfast?” Kelley asks as she emerges from her bedroom, stirring Tobin out of the memory.

“Starving,” Tobin answers with a smile.

Kelley doesn’t say anything as she pulls on her suit jacket and heads for the door.

“Going to be that kind of day,” Tobin mumbles under her breath as she follow Kelley out the door.

It’s been almost eight years since that night, the night her friendship with Kelley had really started, but Tobin knew she’d never forget the look on Kelley’s face that night.

**

Christen had barely slept, so when her alarm wen toff that morning she swatted at it until it shut up. With a huff she had hauled herself out of bed and through a shower, thoughts of her long night and of dreams she couldn’t quite remember lingering long after she’d dressed.

Her conversation with her father replayed over and over in her head. She’d spend years feeling angry at Tobin for abandoning her the way she had. She’d never even thought about what Tobin must have been going through.

Christen had sat at her desk every holiday, birthday or other special occasion and made out cards to everyone on her list. Each and every time her eyes had landed on Tobin’s name she’d hesitate, just for a moment before writing out the familiar name and address.

She’d never sent anything to hurt Tobin, and deep down she hoped that one day she’d respond in some way or another. More than once she’d considered stopping, to not send anything to her anymore, but still she did.

We went from being closer than I’ve ever been with anyone, to nothing at all in the matter of a few seconds, Christen sighs as she pulls open the door to the diner, she was meeting Alex and the others at. She shakes her head, hoping to clear it as she round a corner and sees the table full of her former teammates and friends.

“Christen!” Ali exclaims the moment she sees her and raises from the table. She wraps Christen in a bone crushing hug the moment she’s within arm’s reach.

“Ali, you’re going to break something,” Christen says with a wide smile.

“You look great,” Ali says as she releases Christen and looks her over.

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” Christen says with a laugh.

“Because it’s true,” Ashlyn says as she stands up and gives Christen a hug.

“Congrats you two,” Christen says when she’s released from the hug. “I have the wedding invite up on the fridge at dad’s.”

“Three months and counting,” Ashlyn says with a sly grin as she retakes her seat.

“You need to get us caught up,” Ali says with an excited smile, “and I want to see pictures of Anan.”

Christen laughs but pulls out her phone, pulling up her pictures she hands the phone over and watches as her friends swipe through picture after picture of her daughter.

“God, Christen, she looks so much like you,” Ashlyn says after a moment.

“Yes she does,” Christen beams as Ashlyn hands her back her phone. “I think she has my mother’s eyes though,” Christen adds as she looks down at the picture on the screen.

The other three women at the table go quiet at that. Christen’s mother had passed away shortly before they had all started college, not long before Eric had showed up, and Christen hadn’t talked about her mother much since then.

“She does,” a voice says from behind her and Christen turns to see Kelley standing there, a look of surprise on her face. After a second another look crosses Kelley’s face and she mumbles a short, “Oh shit,” before looking behind her.

Before another word can be said Tobin comes walking around the corner and Christen feels her breath catch in her throat.

She’s dressed in grey slacks, navy blue button down beneath her matching suit jacket and her eyes, as they zero in on Christen, have the same intensity Christen remembers.

Tobin seems to freeze in place when her eyes land on Christen and something in her eyes seems to change, harden a little. If she’s happy to see Christen it doesn’t show.

“Chris,” Tobin says in a whisper so low Christen isn’t sure if she’d really said it or if she had simply wished her to.

“Tobin,” Christen manages to respond, the name feeling so right to finally say again after so long.

“I,” Tobin starts then blinks a few times and tries again, “I didn’t know you were here.”

“We’ve only been back a few days,” Christen answers, the other around them forgotten for now.

“We,” Tobin repeats and she huffs out a short chuckle, “of course. Why did I…,” She finally breaks eye contact with Christen and looks at the four others at the table behind her. “I don’t want to keep you guys from getting caught up. Kelley,” she says throwing a look at the shorter woman, “let me know when you’re ready to head to work.”

Kelley, who looks like she’d had a night equal to Christen’s, just nods as Tobin turns and heads out of the diner.

Everyone seems stuck in their place, unsure of what to say or do after the small scene had finished playing out.

Then Kelley moves, taking a few steps to where Alex stands.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me Christen was back?” Kelley says in a low voice.

“I didn’t think about it,” Alex shrugs, still a bit stunned, “Tobin never comes to these breakfasts.”

“I convinced her she should,” Kelley groans.

It takes Christen a moment to realizes what’s happening but when she does her feet seem to take over and before she knows it, she’s followed Tobin out of the diner and onto the sidewalk beyond.

“Tobin, wait,” she says, reaching out and laying a hand on Tobin’s arm, stopping her.

Tobin hesitates before turning around to face her again, this time her face set in stone, impassive and impossible to read.

“I just want to talk,” Christen says in a low voice, suddenly unsure if this was a good idea, “It’s been years.”

“It has,” Tobin nods her head. “What made you decide to come home?”

“Eric and I,” Christen stammers, looks down at her feet, then says in a low voice, “got a divorce.”

Tobin’s expression seems to soften, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“Yea, I kind of figured that,” Christen says with a small chuckle.

Tobin’s face softens even farther, as though she just realized something, “So when you said ‘we’ you meant..”

“Anna and I,” Christen finishes with a nod, “Yea, we moved in with dad a few days ago.”

“Anna,” Tobin says the name in a thoughtful tone, “she’s what, four now?”

“Yea,” Christen says shocked. “How’d you…”

“I have her, uh,” Tobin says suddenly looking a bit embarrassed, “birth announcement on my desk.”

“You kept it?” Christen asks, still stunned.

Tobin shrugs, “She’s a cute kid.”

At that Christen can’t help the laugh that bubbles out of her, “Yes, she is.”

The sound of Christen’s laugh nearly cuts through Tobin, she hadn’t realized just how much she’d missed it over the years, but she remembers in an instant that it was her favorite thing in the world.

Tobin clears her throat and tries to collect her thoughts, “She seems like a great kid. Your father talks about her all the time.”

“He told me you come to see him every week,” Christen says, “I had no idea.”

“I just uh,” Tobin says looking down, “I just didn’t want him to get lonely after you moved.”

“No, I appreciate it,” Christen says quickly. “I, when we moved, I didn’t...”

“Chris,” Tobin says in a whisper and it makes Christen’s breath catch again. She’d waited so long to hear her name said by that voice, she’d started to think she had only dreamed it. “Your father understands, and I’d bet he’s happy as anything to have you back. Plus, I know he’s got to be loving having his granddaughter here.”

“He is,” Christen says, she hadn’t missed that Tobin had said ‘your father understands’, not that she did. “She follows him everywhere.”

“That’s great,” Tobin says with a small smile. “Look, Chris about before,” Tobin starts but Christen stops her with a wave of her hand.

“I don’t think that right now is the time for that conversation,” Christen says, “but I think we should talk.”

“We should,” Tobin agrees with a sigh. “You’re right, now isn’t right and Kelley and I have a case. We’re going to be busy pretty much all day and we have practice tonight and a game tomorrow.”

“Maybe Anna and I can come to the game tomorrow,” Christen offers a bit hopeful.

“Sure,” Tobin nods. “Alex can tell you where we play,” Tobin hesitates then adds, “I should get going. Let Kelley know that I’ll be back to pick her up.”

“I will,” Christen nods. There’s an awkward moment before Tobin turns and heads to her car parked along the curb. Christen can’t help but notice it’s the same car Tobin’s been driving since high school.

_She felt like her feet were planted to the spot as she watched Tobin walk away, off the dance floor and through the door, disappearing from sight. Christen was still reeling from Tobin’s words and as the door closed behind her Christen felt tears stinging her eyes._

_“Chris,” Christen hears someone say and she blinks back the tears. “Chris, are you ok?”_

_“Ash,” Christen manages to say, “I don’t.” Christen didn’t know what to say or do, at that moment all she wanted was for the dance floor to open up beneath her and swallow her whole. She just wanted to disappear._

_“How about we get some air,” Ashlyn offers and when Christen doesn’t respond, she takes her hand and carefully guides Christen to the nearest door, not the one Tobin had left through._

_Christen barely feels herself moving, her legs feel stiff and heavy, until the cool evening air hits her face and she takes a deep breath. Ashlyn had lead her out onto a small balcony._

_“Better?” Ashlyn asks after a minute passes._

_Christen hesitates before answering, “I don’t know.”_

_“What the hell just happened in there?” Ashlyn asks, leaning against the railing._

_“I, um,” Christen tries but stops, shaking her head. “We danced.”_

_“And then Tobin left,” Ashlyn continues, “What did she say?”_

_“She said,” Christen starts to answer but her words catch in her throat and a sob escapes her._

_“Hey, easy Chris,” Ashlyn says as Christen leans against the railing next to her. Ashlyn reaches over and gently places a hand on Christen’s back. “Whatever it is, it’ll be alright.”_

_“It won’t,” Christen says with a shake of her head. “I’ve made a mistake and I don’t think I can fix it.”_

The memory fades as she watches Tobin pull away and, with a shake of her head, Christen turns around and heads back inside the diner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry folks. I know this chapter is way over do and I'm really sorry for that. Life has been anything but calm the last few weeks, not to make excuses. Hopefully this chapter is worth the wait!!!

“I had no idea she was going to be there,” Kelley says as she slides into the passenger seat of Tobin’s car an hour later.

Tobin looks over at her, meeting Kelley’s eyes for a moment before turning and looking back out the front window.

“I know,” Tobin acknowledges as she pulls them away from the curb and into traffic.

“Good,” Kelley nods. “Then why the hell would you do something so stupid and storm off like that?”

Tobin sighs heavily, “I got pissed. I thought she was saying that her and Eric were back and I…”

“Her and Anna,” Kelley says shaking her head, “her and Eric are.”

“Divorced,” Tobin finishes for her with a nod, “Yea, I know that now.”

“She caught up with you outside?” Kelley asks, sounding a bit surprised.

“She didn’t tell you guys that?” Tobin says in way of a reply.

“Nah,” Kelley answers, “She still looked pretty upset when she came back inside so we figured your stubborn ass didn’t listen.”

“Nice,” Tobin says but doesn’t deny that she nearly didn’t stop, not even when Christen had reached out and taken her hand.

“So, you guys talked?” Kelley asks after a moment.

“A little,” Tobin answers with a nod. “She told me she’s divorced and that she’s living with her father right now.”

“That’s it?” Kelley asks, lifting an eyebrow in surprise.

“I didn’t really think that the sidewalk in front of the diner was the best place to catch up,” Tobin counters. “I told her about the game tomorrow and she said her and Anna would come by.”

“You invited her to the game?” Kelley asks, not bothering to hide her surprise.

“Not exactly,” Tobin mumbles.

“I didn’t think so,” Kelley chuckles.

“Give me a break Kel,” Tobin moans. “It’s not like I expected this today. Besides, I started to say something and she’s the one that said it wasn’t the right place.”

Kelley is silent for a moment before she says, “But you are going to talk to her right?”

Tobin sighs heavily as she pulls into the parking lot of the police station. She shakes her head and answers, “I don’t know. I guess so.”

“You should,” Kelley says as she undoes her seatbelt and steps out of the car.

“What am I supposed to say to her?” Tobin asks as she closes the driver side door. “Sorry for running your wedding and not talking to you for six years.”

“That’d be a good place to start,” Kelley smiles but when she sees the look on Tobin’s face she sighs and adds, “Look, I know that was a rough night for you, I was there, but you don’t know what kind of night it was for her either. You two need to talk.”

“Yea,” Tobin says again with a sigh. Before either if them has the chance to say anything else Tobin’s phone rings. She reaches inside her jacket and pulls it out. “Detective Heath,” she says in way of a greeting.

“Good morning to you too,” Ashlyn responds and Tobin can see her teammate’s smile in her mind, “Why do you always answer your phone like that? I know my number is in your phone.”

“I never check caller ID,” Tobin answers with a shrug, not that Ashlyn could see her, “Are you calling to yell at me for this morning?”

Ashlyn hesitates before answering, “I just want to make sure you hear her out. You didn’t see how shaken up she was after you left.”

Tobin hesitates, not sure if Ashlyn was referring to today or the wedding, “Why is it this has never come up in the last six years?” Tobin asks as she and Kelley walk into the station.

“Because your stubborn ass would cut any one of us off if you even thought we were about to say Christen’s name,” Ashlyn says and Tobin can’t help the pang of pain the name still evokes.

“I guess I did,” Tobin admits as she heads up the stairs leading to the second floor, where the detective desks sit.

“Somebody call the papers,” Ashlyn jokes, “Detective Tobin Heath just admitted to being wrong.”

“At what point in this conversation did I admit to that?” Tobin asks, though she knew she had been in the wrong.

“God, you’re hopeless,” Ashlyn groans but then laughs. “You’ll be at practice tonight?” she asks then, thankfully changing the subject.

“Now see Kelley,” Tobin says looking at the woman walking next to her, “Ash knows how to asks someone politely about practice.”

Kelley leans over, as they reach their desks, and says into the phone, “Don’t worry, her ass will be there.”

“I as just being polite,” Ashlyn laughs back, “I was going to threaten to come drag her there if her answer was no.”

Kelley laughs and Tobin rolls her eyes, “You two are worse than having siblings.”

Kelley laughs again but before Ashlyn has a chance to say anything else Tobin says, “See you at practice,” and quickly ends the call.

“You’re really no fun sometimes,” Kelley snickers as she walks to her desk, pulling her chair out as she flips through a few notes left on her desk by the overnight shift.

“Why is it they never leave those on my desk?” Tobin asks, changing the subject as she sits behind her desk, opening her laptop.

“I scare them less,” Kelley answers flatly without looking up from the stack of paper in her hand.

“I don’t scare anyone,” Tobin counters causing Kelley to look up with a skeptical look on her face. “Ok, maybe a little.”

Kelley shakes her head but with a smile as she looks back down, “Did you want to be at the autopsy today?”

“Yea,” Tobin answers with a nod. “It’s not until after lunch though.”

“It was,” Kelley says, holding up one of the notes, “rescheduled for this morning.”

“When?” Tobin asks, sitting forward in her seat and reaching for the phone that sits on the corner of her desk.

“Uh, in about twenty minutes,” Kelley answers checking her watch.

“Damn it,” Tobin mutters as she dials a few numbers in the phone, “They need to stop doing this. You remember that case three months ago?”

Kelley chuckles, “How could I forget? I thought you were going to rip that poor lab assistance a new one because he forgot to call when they rescheduled.”

“I wasn’t that bad,” Tobin starts to say but stops when someone on the other end picks up.

“He still refuses to come over here when they need someone to deliver results,” Kelley levels her a look and sighs.

Tobin ignores her and says into the phone, “Yes, this is Detective Heath. I wanted to,” she says but clearly gets cut off. “No, I want to know who decided to reschedule our autopsy and not inform us about it.”

“Tobin,” Kelley warns with a shake of her head.

“I get that schedules change,” Tobin said and Kelley can hear the anger and frustration in her voice, “but this is the second time you’ve done this with my cases and it needs to stop,” there’s a pause and Kelley imagines the lab tech was trying to dig himself out of the hole. “Here’s the thing,” Tobin cuts in, “this victim’s family will be here before long and I need to have something resembling an answer for them. I can’t sit around and wait for you to decide to send a report over.”

There’s silence a moment and Tobin hangs up the phone without another word.

“I’m guessing that didn’t go so well?” Kelley ventures after another moment passes.

“She started going into some speech about their procedures and how they’re backed up this month,” Tobin shakes her head, “Like I needed to hear how everyone is backed up.”

Kelley chuckles and says, “Do you remember Professor Elmerton spending an entire class ranting about how the criminal justice system has been behind for the last fifty years?”

“We didn’t take that class tonight,” Tobin answers as she closes her laptop and stands back up. “Remember, you crammed in four years’ worth of CJ classes into two? That was part of your intro class, but yes, he did that in mine too.”

“Think he was right?” Kelley asks with a sigh as she drops the papers back onto her desk.

“Probably,” Tobin concedes with a nod. “Look how jammed up our cases get and we work homicide, which is supposed to be a priority.”

“That’s just messed up,” Kelley shakes her head, “So, I guess we’re headed to the Coroner’s Office now?”

“Yep,” Tobin answers, popping the p. “You going to regret eating breakfast?”

“One time,” Kelley say shaking her head, “I puke on one autopsy and you’ll never let me forget it.”

“Not a chance,” Tobin answers with a smile as they head back down the stairs.

**

“Twenty minutes,” Tobin mutters under her breath as she paces back and forth. Her and Kelley had arrived at the Coroner’s office just a few minutes before the autopsy had been set to happen. They’d been shown back to the exam room and told to wait there.

“What was that?” Kelley asks from her position sitting on a stool by a desk pushed up against the wall. She’s sat there, watching Tobin pace for the last several minutes, the table where their victim lay waiting between them.

“We’ve been here twenty minutes,” Tobin continues, “Which is twenty minutes after this was supposed to start.”

“Maybe you finally pissed off the wrong person,” Kelly offers and shrugs when Tobin throws her a glare. “Just saying. It’s bound to happen at some point.”

Before Tobin has a chance to say anything else the door to the room swings open and in walks a woman in a long, white lab coat.

“I’m not used to having an audience during my autopsies,” the woman says without breaking stride. She doesn’t stop until she’s reached the table their victim lays on. Tobin had stopped her pacing the moment the door had swung open, but she now stands behind the woman at the table, out of her direct line of sight.

“Sorry doc,” Kelley says, leaning against the desk, “but we’re working on a time crunch.”

The doctor stops and looks at Kelley. If Kelley had to guess the doctor was a few years older then her and Tobin, clocking in at what had to be close to six feet tall. The doctor had her long, dark hair pulled back in a ponytail and she looked at Kelley was equally dark eyes.

“I take it you’re Detective Heath,” the doctor says with just a touch of contempt in her voice.

Kelley can’t help but chuckle at that, “Hate to disappoint you but um,” Kelley points over the doctor’s shoulder, “that would be Detective Heath.”

The doctor throws a look over her shoulder and, seeing Tobin standing there, turns to face the other woman.

It doesn’t escape Tobin’s notice that the doctor gives her a once over before saying, “Detective Heath, I don’t appreciate you calling this office and giving the staff here a hard time just because an autopsy gets rescheduled.”

Tobin smiles in a way that Kelley has seen her many times when talking with someone uncooperative, “And I don’t appreciate it when your office continues to reschedule the autopsies on all of my cases.”

“Schedules change detective,” the doctor says with a shrug then turns back towards the exam table. She pulls a pair of rubber gloves from the pocket of her lab coat and flips on the light placed over the exam table.

“Funny,” Tobin says, though her voice lacks any traces of humor, “your assistance on the phone said the same thing when I called.”

The doctor chuckles and answers, “I am far too new here to have an assistance,” she glances over at Tobin and adds, “You were talking to me.”

To her credit Tobin does a fantastic job of keeping the surprise of that news from showing on her face.

“Didn’t realize the coroner answers their own phone,” is Tobin’s response, as she makes her way around the foot of the table.

“First, it’s medical examiner,” the doctor answers, “and second, I’m a forensic pathologist.”

“My mistake,” Tobin says with a nod. She sighs than asks, “What can you tell us so far?”

“I just walked into the room,” the doctor responds with a short chuckle. “The preliminary report should have been sent to your office yesterday.”

“Yea, we did,” Tobin acknowledges with another nod. “Only thing found on the body was blue pool chalk.”

“Which tells us nothing more than that either the victim or the suspect likes to play pool,” Kelley says from her spot against the desk.

“Or both,” Tobin adds. “That’s why we need you doc. Help fill in the blanks.”

The doctor looks back at Tobin and holds her gaze for a moment before she sighs and says, “Pull up a stool detective, this is going to take a while.”

**

_She wasn’t sure how long she had sat there, judging by the fading light coming through the small window above the bathtub it had been several hours. Christen could remember lowering herself to the floor, pressing her back against the cool surface of the bathtub, and crying._

_She’d been miserable since the day they’d moved to LA, her and Eric’s relationship had taken a sudden turn as soon as they were on their own._

_Christen thought she had known the man she’d married, thought that she’d finally be able to put the loss of her mother behind her and remember what a happy life felt like again. She never could have imagined just how wrong she was._

_Barely a week after moving, with most of their belongings still in boxes, Eric had started coming home every night with alcohol on his breath and anger in his eyes. At first Christen had tried talking to him, but every time she had tried it had ended with Eric screaming. Before long he had started using his fists in place of the words._

_Christen had finally reached a breaking point about three weeks ago, when his words and fists were joined with a new kind of hell and he began taking from her everything she had without asking. She’d started putting together her escape then and there, knowing that if she wasn’t careful that he’d find out and stop her._

_The past few days she’d not felt herself and, when she realized something was off, she’d gone to the store and bought a pregnancy test, hoping she was wrong._

_Now here she sits, on the floor in the bathroom, test in hand as tears fall down her face._

Christen’s eyes open slowly, taking in the room around her, as the last of the dream fades. Not so much a dream as it was a memory, one that at times feels like so long ago.

She’d laid down with Anna when she had put her in bed for her afternoon nap but hadn’t expected to actually fall asleep.

Carefully she reaches out and tucks a stray strand of her daughter’s wild hair behind her ear and smiles.

So many people have said how Anna looks like a smaller version of Christen but that’s not what Christen sees. Every time she looks at her daughter, she sees her mother. In the girl’s smile she could hear her mother’s laugh and, in her eyes, Christen saw the same love she had seen nearly every day of her life.

She gently leans forward and places a soft kiss on her daughter’s forehead before she climbs out of the small bed and stretches her arms over her head. Looking down at Anna she realizes that before long she’s going to need a bigger bed.

Christen wonders a moment at how something as terrible as her marriage still managed to bring her such a joy.

She heads out of the room, quietly closing the door behind her and makes her way down the hallway towards the living room. Before she makes much progress, she’s stopped when something catches her attention out of the corner of her eye.

A picture, one of the many that her mother had placed on the walls of the hallway years ago, of Christen from high school. It was from her senior year, she knows by the senior sweatshirt she’s wearing. The picture is not just of Christen but of all her friends as well and they’re all gathered around Tobin’s red Camaro. Kelley leaning against Alex, who Christen would have sworn she had a crush on, Ali smiling wide while Ashlyn wrapped her arms around her from behind.

Then there’s Tobin, leaning against the back of the car, her arm thrown around Christen’s shoulder in the easy manner they’d always had with each other. The smile she wears isn’t one of her big cheesy ones, the ones that Christen loved so much, but despite that Christen can still see the happiness in her eyes.

Christen on the other hand was the exact opposite, her smile shining brightly in the afternoon sun as she leans into Tobin, her hand resting lightly on her stomach.

Looking at the picture Christen feels a pang of regret, if only things could still be as simple as they had been in that moment.

Without thinking she reaches out and lightly runs a finger over the picture, stopping when she reaches the spot where her and Tobin where, the pang in her chest turning to a dull ache.

Back in high school Christen hadn’t given a second thought to how well her and Tobin had fit together, it’d seemed so natural that she had never thought to question it, never thought that it was anything more than friendship.

Looking back now she realized that she had never felt the same way when Eric had put his arm around her as she had when Tobin did. She’d never leaned into Eric’s touch the way she did Tobin, never felt like she was safe or herself either.

Christen shakes her head at herself, she’d been so wrapped up in her own problems that she hadn’t given a thought to what she’d left behind, or who.

 _I hope she’s at least willing to talk to me_ , Christen thinks with a sigh.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's finally the weekend and that means game time. Christen shows up to watch the game along with Anna, who gets to meet Tobin for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, I'm so sorry it's taken this long to get this chapter out. Life and school and kids, it's crazy sometimes. I hope this chapter was worth the wait.

_“I can’t believe how long it takes people to figure out how to disembark from a plane,” Tobin sighs as she lets her head fall back against the headrest of her plane seat._

_“I can’t believe you’re complaining,” Christen smiles from the seats beside her, “you slept the whole plane back.”_

_They had just landed back in Newark from a two weeklong trip to France that they had all decided to take before they started college that fall._

_Tobin would have been lying if she said that it hadn’t been the best trip of her life. She and Christen had shared a room, which they always did when they traveled, and it had been just them on more than one evening. They’d walked through the streets of Paris, Tobin marveling at how Christen seemed to glow from happiness, and on one special night they had laid out on a blanket by the Eiffel Tower. They hadn’t done anything else special that day but laying there that night they had talked about everything they wanted out of life; families, careers, their hopes and their fears._

_They’d been close friends since Christen and Kelley had transferred in at the beginning of their Junior Year, but after this trip the two knew each other better than any other person alive._

_“Yea, but still,” is Tobin’s response._

_“Yea but you can’t say the trip wasn’t worth it,” Ashlyn pipes up from the row behind her._

_“It was definitely worth it,” Tobin mumbles to herself. She hadn’t been blind to the fact that Christen was beautiful, it had been the first thing she had thought when she saw her, but there was something else there now. A beauty Tobin hadn’t fully appreciated until that night._

_“I think it’s finally starting to thin out some,” Christen says, pulling Tobin from her thoughts._

_“Finally,” Tobin sighs as she stands up from her seat, crouching to avoid hitting her head on the overhead compartments._

_“Aren’t you ever in a good mood?” Kelley jokes from the row in front of them as she steps into the clear aisle and opens the overhead, pulling her bag down._

_“Not around you,” Tobin fires back with a thin smile, Kelley rolling her eyes in response._

_“You two are ridiculous,” Christen smiles as she reaches up to grab her bag._

_“She started it,” Kelley mumbles and Tobin shakes her head. She’s known Kelley for two years now and the two have always had a friendship of mutual giving each other a hard time. Kelley didn’t talk much, unless she was joking so it was often times hard to get a feel for the other girl._

_“Let me get it,” Tobin says as she steps into the aisle next to Christen and grabs her bag, pulling it down and setting it on the floor. Tobin grabs her bag, catching Ashlyn out of the corner of her eye as the blonde smiles at her almost knowingly._

_A few minutes later and they’re all walking through the airport together, heading towards baggage claim when Kelley pulls her buzzing phone out of her pocket._

_“Chris, why is your dad calling me?” she asks, looking down at the phone in her hands._

_“Oh, I forgot to turn my phone back on,” Christen says as she unzips a pocket of the bag slung over her shoulder._

_Kelley answers the phone, lifting it to her ear, “Hey, Mr. Press, we just got off the plane,” Kelley starts but stops, a concerned look coming to her face as she listens. “Chris, your dad needs to talk to you,” Kelley says a moment later, holding the phone out to her._

_Christen, a quizzical look on her face, takes the phone, “Hi daddy.”_

_Christen’s face immediately starts to pale and she looks at Tobin, who gives her a concerned look before glancing at Kelley._

_“Her mom’s in the hospital,” Kelley answers her look and Tobin feels her heart drop. Christen’s relationship with her mother has to be the best relationship between two people that Tobin as ever seen. For as long as she’s known them the two have always seemed to be in sync, her mother supporting Christen every step of the way, coming to every game and a good number of practices just to cheer her daughter on._

_“Can you guys handle the luggage?” Tobin asks of Ashlyn, Ali and Kelley, all of which nod immediately._

_Christen hangs up the phone, handing it back to Kelley without a word and looks to Tobin again._

_“My mom,” is all she manages to say in a low whisper._

_“I know,” Tobin nods and takes Christen’s hand, “Let’s go.” She doesn’t wait for Christen to reply before she leads the girl away from their friends and towards the front of the airport._

_Tobin has never liked airports, they always make her feel claustrophobic, so many people crushed together, trying to get to their destinations. Today was no exception to that feeling and as Tobin leads them out the sliding doors and into the midday sun the pressing claustrophobic feeling refuses to let up._

_She quickly finds them a cab and they slid into the back seat, Tobin giving the driver the address for the hospital. Christen’s father had sent her a text with the address, including what room Christen’s mother was in. Tobin had no idea how bad things were, but she knew that she wasn’t about to leave her friend’s side until it was over._

_“I don’t know what to do,” Christen final says a few minutes into their ride. She’d been staring out the window the entire ride, silent tears sliding down her cheek._

_“Right now, we’re getting to the hospital,” Tobin answers, “everything else, we’ll figure out after that.”_

_Christen just nods as she reaches over and takes Tobin’s hand again, squeezing it lightly, she takes their joined hands and lays then together on her lap._

_“You’ll stay?” she asks after another minute had passed, her voice a mix of fear and pain._

_“Yea,” Tobin nods, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze, “for as long as you need me.”_

“Hey Tobin,” Kelley’s voice breaks through Tobin’s memory, “Earth to Tobin.”

“What?” Tobin says, her voice laced with the fogginess for the memory as it fades.

Kelley chuckles, they were all sitting on the pitch, stretching out for the coming game, and says, “I asked what you thought about getting lunch after the game.”

“You looked like you were a million miles away,” Ashlyn says after Tobin doesn’t answer again.

“I was just, um,” Tobin stutters for a moment, “I was just thinking about the day we got back from France.”

No one says anything after that and when Tobin looks around at her friends, they all wear the same glum expression.

“Bad day,” Kelley offers with a short nod.

“That it was,” Ashlyn agrees with and nod and she reaches over and takes Ali’s hand.

“I’m just glad we could be there for her,” Ali sighs, “then and now.”

“Yea,” Ashlyn agrees in a low voice and Kelley looks at Tobin, who nods just slightly.

Tobin didn’t answer, instead she looked away from her friends, off into the distance, allowing her mind to wonder again. When Christen’s mother had passed she’d held herself together long enough to make sure that her father and sisters were ok, but once everything had been taken care of, once they had arrived back at the apartment they had just signed the lease for, the apartment they’d planned on staying in while in college, Christen had finally broken down.

She’d nearly collapsed, Tobin the only one there and they one that has held her for days while she let her grief out, not even beginning to imagine the pain her friend was going though.

Then had come the funeral, Tobin had continued to stand by her friend, but she could fee Christen pulling away with each passing. Tobin hadn’t said anything, she knew that Christen was going through her own brand of hell at the time and she did her best to give her space while still making sure she knew that Tobin was there for her.

Then Eric had shown up, Christen saying that she had met him on campus, he seeing that she seemed upset while studying in the library and asking if she was alright. Everything went downhill after that. Eric became the center focus of Christen’s life and Tobin felt as though she had lost her best friend.

“Sorry I’m late,” another voice cuts into Tobin’s thought, “traffic was insane.”

Tobin looks back and sees Alex standing there, smiling. Not far behind her walks Christen, a small girl with dark curls walking beside her, a tight hold on the older woman’s hand.

It doesn’t take everyone long to come to their feet, walking over and wrapping Christen in a number of hugs, the little girl hiding behind her mother’s legs.

Unlike everyone else, Tobin remains on the ground, continuing to stretch out her legs.

A few minutes pass and the small group make their way to where everyone had set down their equipment and chairs when they’d arrived, Christen still in the middle of the group of women. Ever so often Tobin would catch Christen glancing her way but Tobin waited.

Besides the glances from her former best friend, Tobin noticed that ever few moments the tiny head of the little girl would peak out from behind Christen’s legs and look over at Tobin, the only adult that had yet kept her distance.

After another few moments the little girl reaches up and tugs on the sleeve of Christen’s sweater, getting her attention, Christen leans down and her daughter whispers something to her. Whatever it was it made Christen smile and she nodded to the girl.

Tobin watches as the little girl finally steps away from her mother, eyes locked on Tobin the entire time, and makes her way to within a few feet of where Tobin still sat on the cool morning grass. She keeps out of arms’ length but sits by Tobin, folding her legs under her to match how Tobin was currently sitting.

Tobin can’t help but chuckle a little as the child looks like she’s sizing her up, trying to determine what to make of Tobin.

“Hi,” Tobin offers after a moment. “I’m Tobin.”

“I’m Anna,” the girl says in a small voice, clearly still unsure of Tobin, “You’re friends with my mommy.” Its not phrased as a question and Tobin has to admit that she admires the kid for her straightforwardness.

Tobin glances back at Christen, who happens to be looking their way, and she smiles slightly before answering the little girl with a nod, “I am.”

“Mommy has pictures of you at grandpa’s house,” Anna says still watching Tobin.

“Really?” Tobin asks, a bit surprised. “Well, I have a picture of you on my desk at work,” Tobin responds leaning forward just slightly as she stretches out her left leg, feeling her knee protest just slightly as she does.

“You do?” Anna asks, moving her leg to mimic Tobin again.

Tobin chuckles but answers, “I do. From when you were a baby.”

“That was a long time ago,” Anna responds.

“It was,” Tobin agrees a bit sadly. “Are you going to watch our game?” she asks, changing the subject for now.

“Mommy says she used to play too but stop when she moved away,” Anna answers with a nod.

“That’s true,” Tobin says with a nod as Christen walks over to the pair, “but maybe we can talk her into playing again.”

“Yea,” Anna says with the first smile Tobin had seen on the girl since they’d arrived.

“You two having fun?” Christen asks with a smile and for a second Tobin thinks her heart may stop, the beauty of that smile had not been diminished over the years.

“Anna was helping me get warmed up,” Tobin says looking up at Christen with a grin.

“I see that,” Christen says looking at her daughter with a proud smile. “But the game is about to get started so we should go get in our seats now,” Christen says to Anna.

“Good idea, I should finish warming up anyway,” Tobin agrees as she comes to her feet, wiping her hands off on her shorts. Anna too comes to her feet and again mimics Tobin, wiping her little hands on her pants.

“Three minutes together and you’re already teaching her bad habits,” Christen teases with a somewhat cautious smile.

Tobin shrugs and answers, “I’ve always been a good role model.” Christen rolls her eyes but laughs and Tobin asks, “Are you sticking around after the game?”

Christen nods, “I was hoping we could talk.”

“Me too,” Tobin answers, gives Christen a reassuring grin before she smiles down at Anna, “I’ll see you both after the game then.” And with that she turns and heads off to find Kelley to finish warming up before the game.

**

“I can’t believe we got our asses kicked that bad,” Kelley complains two hours later, letting herself drop to the ground on the sidelines.

“It wasn’t that bad,” Tobin sighs, her arms stretched over her head, “We only lost 1-0.”

“Did you hear yourself?” Kelley asks, lifting her head enough to throw a look at Tobin, who drops her arms back to her side and shrugs.

“Look, between you, Ali and Ash our defense is solid,” Tobin answers. “We just need to work on our offense.”

“They also played dirty,” Ali offers as she sits on the grass next to Kelley. “They tripped you up at least half a dozen times Tobin.”

Tobin shrugs again as she hears her name being called by a small, familiar voice, and she turns around to see Anna running her way.

“Hey kiddo,” Tobin says with a grin as she takes a knee and waits for the little girl to get to her.

“Did you win?” Anna asks as she reaches the small group and stops, again just short off arms’ length away.

“Not this time,” Tobin says with a small wince, “but we did our best.”

“You were so fast,” Anna says her voice with just a touch of awe to it, causing Tobin to chuckle.

“I don’t think she took her eyes off of you the entire game,” Christen says with a smile as she steps up behind her daughter.

“You got knocked over a lot,” Anna says as though to confirm what her mother had said.

“I did,” Tobin acknowledges with a nod, “the other team wasn’t exactly playing by the rules.”

“Did you get hurt?” Anna asks a bit shyly.

“I’m ok,” Tobin smiles widely at the child. _She has her mother’s heart that’s for sure_ , Tobin thinks to herself, her eyes moving from the child to Christen, who gives her a small nod. “Is it ok if I talk to your mommy for a few minutes? You can sit with Aunt Kelley and Alex until we’re done.”

Anna hesitates for a second before she nods and breaks into a smile. While she was still shy around groups she seemed more comfortable with those she knew a little bit better. Kelley and Alex had been the only two that had gone out to see Christen and Anna on the west coast.

Tobin comes back to her full height in front of Christen and there’s a hesitation on both their parts before Tobin takes the lead and takes a few steps away from everyone else.

They walk in silence for several minutes before Tobin finally manages to find her voice and says, “I’m sorry for what I did at your wedding. It was kind of a dick thing to do and I wasn’t thinking about it right at the time.”

Christen thinks for a long moment before she says, “Are you sorry you told me you loved me?”

Tobin chuckles shortly and shakes her head, “No. I think my delivery could have been better though.”

“And better timed,” Christen chuckles as she agrees.

“Right,” Tobin nods her head as she looks down at the ground as they walk. “I wasn’t trying to ruin your wedding. I just…”

“You didn’t ruin my wedding,” Christen offers after another moment passes. “I was making a mistake and didn’t want to admit it, but Tobin, you walked away. Right out of my life, I didn’t hear from you at all after that.”

Tobin nods, still looking down, “I know, I did, I,” she sighs and tries again, “I didn’t know what to say to you after that. It just hurt to see you with him and I didn’t think I could take it anymore.”

Christen nods, feeling tears burning the corners of her eyes she says in a whisper, “I missed you.”

“I missed you too Chris,” Tobin admits. “I must have picked my phone up a hundred times since that day, but I always ended up putting it down.”

Christen laughs and Tobin looks at her quizzically as she covers her mouth with a hand and looks at Tobin, her eyes alive with laughter.

“Care to let me in on the joke?” Tobin asks with a cautious smile.

“I’m sorry,” Christen says as she drops her hand from her mouth, “It really isn’t funny, it’s just that, I’ve done the same thing so many times.”

“Really?” Tobin says with a small chuckle.

“Yea,” Christen nods, “I thought you were mad at me and I wanted to fix things, I just didn’t know if I could.”

“I wasn’t mad at you,” Tobin shakes her head as she looks back at the ground, “I honestly thought you were pissed at me for messing up your wedding.”

Christen chuckles again, this time shortly and shakes her head, “You didn’t mess it up. Things just got, bad, after that, when we moved to the west coast. Eric…. wasn’t who I thought he was.”

“I’m sorry,” Tobin says in a low voice and when Christen looks at her she adds, “I really am. I didn’t like the guy, ever, but that doesn’t mean I wanted you to be unhappy.”

They walk together in silence for awhile, slowly making their way around the field until they’re nearly back to where Anna is sitting with Kelley and Alex. That’s when Christen stops, she takes a breath and turns to face Tobin, who has also stopped.

“You were my best friend for four years Tobin,” Christen says and her voice breaks slightly as she continues, “and I’ve spent the last six years without you. We still have a lot of things to talk about and I know that things won’t be better between us overnight, but I want my friend back. Can we start there, friends?”

Tobin is quiet for a moment, there’s barely been a day in the last six years that she hasn’t wanted her friend back, hasn’t wanted to wrap her arms around her friend and tell her everything is going to be ok. There hasn’t been a day, until this moment, when Tobin didn’t think that Christen hated her for what she’d done at the wedding. Learning that she hadn’t been mad at her and, in fact, had been wanting to reach out, changed everything Tobin had thought for the last six years.

With a nod Tobin looks at Christen and says, “Yea, I think that’s a great place to start.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Baby steps guys. They'll get there eventually but starting out as friends is a good first step.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that they've decided to start things over again as friends, everyone heads out for a post game lunch but work interrupts. Plus a little back story on Ms Kelley.

“So,” Kelley asks a few minutes later when they ‘re both back in Tobin’s car. They’d all agreed on a place to meet for lunch and were heading over there now, since Kelley had ridden to the game in Tobin’s car she was riding with her to lunch.

“So what?” Tobin asks as she buckles her seatbelt and turns the car on.

“You and Christen talked,” Kelley prods, buckling her own seatbelt.

“Yea,” Tobin nods. Their conversation hadn’t been long but Tobin hoped it was a start.

“That’s it? Yea?” Kelley sighs dramatically.

“It’s not like we talked all that long,” Tobin explains, “We did say we’d like to be friends again.”

“That’s good though,” Kelley says then looks over at Tobin, “Right?”

“It is,” Tobin nods. After a moment she says with a small smile, “The kid is cute.”

“Yea she is,” Kelley smiles, “Smart as hell too.”

“She comes from a family of teachers,” Tobin laughs, “Are you really surprised?”

“Not really,” Kelley offers with a sigh as she settles into her seat.

They’re quiet for a moment before Tobin sighs and asks, “What happened with you and Janice?”

Kelley lets out a dry laugh before answering, “I had a rough night the other night and she kept asking me to talk about it.”

“You haven’t told her?” Tobin asks a bit surprised. Kelley and Janice had been together for a while now and she’d just assumed that Kelley had told her about her past.

“It’s not exactly something that can be brought up easily in conversation,” Kelley says back dryly.

“True,” Tobin says slowly.

There’s another moment of silence before Kelley sighs and says, “Janice moved out.”

Tobin winces as she pulls up outside of the diner they had all agreed to meet at.

“I’m sorry dude,” Tobin offers but she’s never been good at dealing with relationship things.

Kelley shrugs, “Probably for the better anyway.”

“Kelley,” Tobin says, feeling like she needed to say something, anything to help her friend out, “Maybe you should talk to Alex. At least she gets it.”

Kelley looks like she’s considering it before she shakes her head and stubbornly says, “I’ll be alright.”

Tobin rolls her eyes as she climbs out of the driver’s side, closing her door behind her. “Just think about it,” she says as she steps up onto the curb.

Kelley just nods as Christen, Anna and Alex meet them on the sidewalk.

In just a few minutes Tobin, Kelley, Alex, Christen, Anna, along with Ali and Ashlyn are seated at a table near the back of the dinner. A few others had wanted to join them but had other things to do on their Saturday, some of which included work.

“The upsides to having jobs that are primarily week days jobs,” Ashlyn smiles as she stretches her arms over her head, letting them relax again and draping one over the back of Ali’s chair.

“It does have its perks,” Kelley answers with a short chuckle.

When they’d arrived at the dinner Anna had taken the liberty of deciding who should sit at what place around the large, round table. Anna had wanted to sit next to Tobin but also with her mother so she had decided on the seat between them.

Christen, looks over Anna to Tobin, throwing her a look, as though to asks, _Is she ok?_

Tobin gives a slight shrug and Christen sighs.

Those two went back longer than any of the others at the table and Christen knew as well as anyone just how stubborn Kelley could be when she wanted to.

“Tobin?” Anna asks, she had chosen her seat.

“Yea kiddo?” Tobin asks, leaning down slightly so she could hear.

“Can you come to my new school and teach us how to play soccer?” Anna asks looking up at Tobin.

“Um,” Tobin says looking at Christen for an explanation.

“She starts preschool in a week,” Christen explains doing her best to hold back a smile.

Tobin nods and looks back to Anna, “I’m sure they have someone at the school that can teach you guys.”

“Yea but I want to be good,” Anna fires back immediately and all the adults at the table do their best to keep from laughing.

Kelley is the first to fail and busts up laughing, “Can’t say the kid isn’t honest.”

“I’ll tell you what,” Tobin says glancing to Christen again, who gives her a nod and Tobin, doing her best to keep a straight face says to Anna, “You go and check it out for me and if they aren’t good, then yea, I’ll come in and teach you guys.”

“Yay!” is Anna’s response and this time Tobin does laugh.

As the laughter dies down Tobin realizes that her phone is ringing. With a sigh she pulls it out of her pocket, looking at the screen, she sees that it’s dispatch. Her eyes catch Kelley and she gives her a slight nod before answering.

“Detective Heath,” she answers raising the phone to her ear.

Christen had known for some time know that Tobin, and Kelley, were detectives now but hearing Tobin actually say it was something else entirely and Christen felt a faint blush rise to her cheeks that she hoped no one else noticed.

Judging by the smartass smile on Ashlyn’s face, she hadn’t been so lucky.

Christen does her best to smother the smile she can feel turning up her lips again and shakes her head slightly.

“How the hell did we not know about this sooner?” she hears Tobin asks into the phone in a tone that grabs everyone’s attention. Looking around the table Tobin offers an apologetic smile before she sighs again and says into the phone, “Alright, we’ll be in.”

“That about our case?” Kelley asks as Tobin slides her phone back into her pocket.

“Yea,” Tobin nods once, her face more serious than Christen could remember seeing it, even more so than yesterday. “We have a missing person now as well.”

Kelley hiss a silent curse but pushes her chair back and stands up, “Great game guys but guess we need to get to work.”

“Are you leaving?” Anna asks Tobin in that cute way that kids can somehow always manage to make you feel guilty.

“Yea,” Tobin nods, looking down at her, “Aunt Kelley and I have to go to work for a bit.”

“Are you coming to grandpa’s tomorrow?” Anna asks. When Tobin looks confused Anna continues, “I heard grandpa say that you come to visit him on Sundays.”

Christen lets out a soft chuckle, _I swear that kid hears everything._

“I guess I hadn’t thought about that,” Tobin admits looking from Anna to Christen. “I don’t have to.”

“No, you should still come over,” Christen says with a nod, “I know dad will be happy to see you.”

“Ok,” Tobin nods as she stands up. “I guess I’ll see you two tomorrow then,” she looks at Christen and adds, “As long as we get this thing with our case figured out.”

“I understand,” Christen nods and as Tobin and Kelley take their first steps away from the table she adds, “Be safe.”

**

“Mrs. Spade, I’m Detective Heath,” Tobin says extending her hand towards the older woman that was sitting on a bench outside of their office area. “I’m sorry that we have to meet this way,” she adds as the woman quickly stands.

“Where’s my grandson?” Mrs. Spade asks, ignoring Tobin’s offered hand.

“That is what my partner and I are looking into now,” Tobin offers, dropping her hand. After Tobin had gotten the call at the dinner she and Kelley had left and gone to Kelley’s apartment, of the two of them her’s was closer to both the dinner and the station. They’d both showered quickly and gotten dressed in clothes more appropriate for work, Tobin always carried an extra suit in the trunk of her car for days just like this.

“When they called us,” Mrs. Spade starts but stops as her throat catches.

“When they called us to tell us what had happened,” her husband says as he steps up next to his wife, “They didn’t mention anything about Joey, and we thought that he must have been with children services. When we got here,” here too his voice cut out.

“I understand,” Tobin says softly, “We’ve already issued an Amber Alert and everyone in a five state radius will be looking for him. Would it be possible for me to asks you a few questions?”

“Of course,” Mr. Spade answers with a quick nod.

“What were Veronica and Joey doing in New Jersey?” Tobin asks as they all sit on the bench.

“She was supposed to be heading to Rhode Island to visit my sister,” Mrs. Spade answers, “but she said she and Joey were going to take the long way so Joey could see more of the East Coast. He’s never been.”

“Joey’s five?” Tobin asks, she had already read the statement that their victim’s parents had given regarding their grandson but she wanted to see if there was anything that might have been forgotten.

“She will be this fall,” Mr. Spade answers. “Do you have any idea who did this to our daughter?”

“Not yet,” Tobin answers honestly. “We’re doing everything we can but unfortunately there wasn’t much evidence at the scene and we’re still canvasing the area to find out if anyone saw or heard anything. Can you tell me anything about Joey’s father?” Tobin asks carefully.

“Not much,” Mr. Spade answers, “Veronica and he dated for a short time before he left town. She found out she was pregnant after he left.”

Tobin hesitates before she asks, “Does he know about Joey?”

Mister Spade looks to his wife then back at Tobin and with a sigh says, “We honestly don’t know. We haven’t seen or heard from him since he left the state. DO you think he has something to do with this?”

“I don’t know,” Tobin admits with a shake of her head, “but we can’t rule anything out as of right now.”

Tobin spends a few more minutes with the Spades before they leave the station, heading to the hotel room they’ve booked until their grandson is found.

As Tobin reaches the second floor she hears voices coming from the detectives’ desk area and quickly realizes that the voice is Kelley’s.

“What the hell were you thinking?” she hears Kelley yell as she rounds the corner and sees Kelley standing by her desk, a young uniformed officer standing in front of her.

“I didn’t know,” the officer starts to say but is cut off quickly by Kelley.

“Of course, you didn’t know!” Kelley shouts back, “How could you, it would require you to get your head out of your ass.”

“Kelley,” Tobin cuts in before another word is said, “Upstairs.”

Kelley turns her glare on Tobin and for a moment Tobin thinks she’s going to argue with her, but she clamps her mouth shut and gives a short nod.

Tobin walks past Kelley and heads to the staircase at the back of the room. Kelley throws one last glare at the officer before she turns and follows Tobin through the door.

Tobin takes the stairs two at a time until she reaches the door at the top and pushes through into the bright light of the afternoon sky.

She walks over to the railing that runs around the length of the waist high wall that circles the top of their building. She waits until she hears the sound of the door close behind Kelley before she turns around to face her friend.

“You want to tell me what the hell that was?” Tobin asks as she leans back against the wall behind her.

“That idiot,” Kelley starts harshly, “was the one working the desk when our victim’s parents called in and asked about their grandson, yesterday. Yesterday Tobin! We lost a day because he didn’t bother to notify us about it!”

“So, you chew him out in front of all the detectives?” Tobin asks.

“He wanted to apologize,” Kelley huffs.

“And you bit his head off instead,” Tobin answers, she knows what’s gotten under Kelley’s skin and knows that her friend needs to vent it out and would rather she do it up here than at another officer.

“Forty-eight hours Tobin!” Kelley shouts taking a step forward and waving her hand through the air, “every minute after that and we get farther away from finding her!”

“Him,” Tobin corrects quietly.

“What?” Kelley snaps.

“Our missing kid is a boy,” Tobin answers and she watches as realization dawns on Kelley’s face and the anger drains away.

“Shit,” Kelley curses at herself as she runs her hand through her loose hair.

“Yea,” Tobin nods, “go home.”

Kelley’s head wipes up and she looks at Tobin, “What?”

“Look,” Tobin says, holding her hand up in front of her, “I know this has got to be hard for you.”

“You don’t know shit,” Kelley spits out angrily.

“You forget who you’re talking to?” Tobin asks with huff, “I’m the one that keeps picking your ass up off the floor every time you fall over. I’m the one that’s there when you have rough nights and you feel like you’re going crazy, just like you’re the one that’s there on my bad nights.” Tobin sighs, feeling that small bit of anger abate. “I know this case is hard, especially now that we have a missing kid. It’s going to open up a lot of wounds for you. Right now I think you need distance and a chance to get out of your own head.”

Kelley is silent as she looks out over the city for a long moment and Tobin can’t help but wonder what thoughts are going through her friend’s mind.

“You’re right,” Kelley says at last, looking back to Tobin. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Tobin offers a small smile, “and don’t go to your place either. You’ll drive yourself crazy. Go talk to Alex,” Tobin offers. “She’s knows your head better than you do someday, plus she’s been putting up with your ass longer than any of us,” Tobin adds with a chuckle and is relieved to see a small smile come to her friend’s face.

“Alright,” Kelley says with a nod, “I’ll go but you keep me updated on this.”

“I will,” Tobin nods her agreement. She places a reassuring hand on Kelley’s shoulder before she turns and heads back inside.

Tobin takes a moment and turns back to look out over the city, her mind drifting just slightly.

_“This feels like first year all over again,” Tobin mutters as she opens the door to the apartment her and Kelley have shred since their third year of college had started._

_“You weren’t this grouchy back then,” Kelley answers back as she hangs from Tobin’s side, her arm thrown over the taller woman’s shoulder._

_“Four years of hauling your drunk ass home does that,” Tobin answers as she reaches back with her foot and closes the door behind them._

_“Yea, that’s not your problem,” Kelley says with a shake of her head but stops when she the motion makes her dizzier. “You’re in love with Chris.”_

_“And you’re in love with Alex,” Tobin fires back, knowing she shouldn’t be so annoyed with her friend but she’s tired and still has no idea why Kelley keeps getting herself this way this time each year._

_Kelley chuckles shortly and says, “But she loves what’s his name.”_

_“I know how you feel,” Tobin mutters as she pushes open the door to Kelley’s room. Not bothering to turn on the light she drops Kelley onto her bed._

_“You think that’s why we get along so well?” Kelley asks, her voice muffled slightly by the pillow her head now rests on._

_“You mean the fact that we’re both in love with women we’ll be have?” Tobin asks as she reaches down and pull off Kelley’s shoes, “Probably.”_

_Kelley huffs a laugh, “You sure know how to look on the bright side.”_

_“I could always learn from you I guess,” Tobin shakes her head, “drink myself stupid.”_

_“It has it’s benefits,” Kelley chuckles as she rolls over onto her back._

_Tobin doesn’t respond but picks up Kelley’s shoes and crosses the small room, tossing them in the closet so she doesn’t have to worry about Kelley tripping over them in the middle of the night, which has happened._

_“She was there and then she was just gone,” Kelley’s voice says into the dark room causing Tobin to freeze, hand still on the door of the closet. “Fourteen years ago, fourteen years and I still miss her every damn day.”_

_“Kelley,” Tobin says slowly, not sure if the other woman remembered she was there, “I’m still in the room.”_

_“I know,” Kelley says, turning her head in the direction of Tobin’s voice, “but you’ve been picking my ass up for four years now. You should know why.”_

_“Ok,” Tobin nods in the dark. She waits and when Kelley doesn’t say anything she sighs and takes a step towards the bed. “Move over,” she says and when Kelley does, she sits next to her on the bed._

_There is silence for another few moments and Tobin says, “You know, you don’t have to tell me anything. I’m happy picking your drunk ass up every year.”_

_Kelley snorts a laugh and shakes her head, “Bullshit. No one likes picking the drunk up. Why do you think you’re stuck doing it?”_

_Tobin thinks for a second then says, “Because you don’t want to bother your parents, your best friend moved across the country,” Tobin says, still having a difficult time convincing herself to say Christen’s name, “and you won’t call Alex because you don’t know what your drunk ass will say.”_

_Kelley snorts again, “Exact opposite, I do know exactly what I’ll say.”_

_“Fair enough,” Tobin allows with a short chuckle, “but we’re still friends Kelley. This is what we do.”_

_Kelley remains silent for another moment before huffing out a breath and saying, “When I was eight my older sister was kidnapped.”_

_The words hang in the air, Tobin stunned and not knowing what to say to that._

_“She was six years older than me and was at practice,” Kelley continues, her voice low. “When my mom got to the field to pick her up, she wasn’t there. Some of the other girls said they thought they saw her talking to some guy in the parking lot but couldn’t remember anything about him.”_

_Tobin stays still as she hears Kelley shift herself around on the bed, sitting up and leaning against the headboard, next to Tobin._

_“They couldn’t find her,” Kelley continues, her voice so low it was barely a whisper. “Eight days, and there were no leads, nothing to explain what happened to her. Then on day nine there was a knock on our front door.” Kelley takes a deep breath before continuing, “It was the detective in charge of her case. They’d found her,” Kelley’s voice breaks and Tobin can hear the pain in her voice, “at the lake just outside of town. She’d been dead for seven days.”_

_“Kel,” Tobin says in a soft voice but finds that she’s unable to find any other words. Instead of saying anything, Tobin lifts her arm, wrapping it around Kelley’s shoulders and pulling her friend close. She’s surprised when Kelley doesn’t argue but instead allows herself to be pulled in, resting her head against Tobin’s shoulder and letting the tears fall._

Tobin shakes her head at the memory. No, she hadn’t been able to find words that night to help her friend nor any night since then.

With a heavy sigh Tobin heads back inside to hopefully start making some progress on their missing case. She couldn’t protect Kelley from her demons but maybe she could find their missing kid before her friend was forced to relive her past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys liked this chapter. I wanted to finally get into what happened to Kelley and move the case on to the next step. Let me know what you guys think!!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a long night at work Tobin enjoys a few peaceful moments Sunday morning before heading back to the station.

“Tobin!” Cody Press says with a wide smile as takes in the woman standing on his doorstep early Sunday morning. She’s dressed in her customary two piece suit, dark blue pants and blazer over a crumpled looking white shirt. “You look exhausted,” he adds noticing the dark circles under her eyes.

She chuckles and answers, “Long few days at work.”

“So I’ve heard,” he offers, taking a step back, holding the door open. When Tobin gives him a quizzical look as she walks in and he chuckles and answers, “A small birdie told me.”

“Let me guess,” Tobin says with a smile, “a birdie that’s about three feet tall and bares a striking resemblance to your daughter.”

“That’d be the one,” Cody nods as he closes the door. “She is beautiful, isn’t she?”

At that moment Christen comes around the corner, carrying Anna, and when her eyes land on Tobin she smiles.

“Yea, she is,” Tobin says in answer to Cody’s question.

“Tobin!” Anna exclaims when she sees Tobin, holding her arms up.

“Morning to you too,” Tobin chuckles as Christen stops in front of her. Tobin lifts her hand, offering Anna a high five, which the child returns happily. Tobin smiles and her eyes meet Christen’s as she smiles back at Tobin. “Morning Chris,” Tobin says in a low voice.

“Morning,” Christen says back.

Cody sighs deeply and says to Anna, “Do you want to come help grandpa finish breakfast?”

Anna nods excitedly and reaches out for him.

“Alright,” Cody says as he takes Anna into his arms, “We’ll work on breakfast. You two should get caught up.” He throws a wink at Tobin before turning around and heading towards the kitchen.

Christen can’t stop the laugh that bubbles out of her and she covers her mouth with her hand as she feels her face flush just a little.

“He hasn’t changed much,” Tobin acknowledges with a nod and smile of her own.

“No, he really hasn’t,” Christen laughs but she turns and heads towards the living room, Tobin moving to follow.

“Though he does seem happier now than the last time I was here,” Tobin admits as she and Christen sit on opposite sides of the couch. “I think having you two here has brightened him up.”

“I hope so,” Christen says with a smile. She hesitates then moves so that she’s facing Tobin on the couch, resting her arm along the back of the couch and leaning against her arm. “You look tired,” she says after a moment.

Tobin sighs and answers, “Yesterday turned in to a late night at work.”

“Does it have anything to do with the amber alert?” Christen asks and when Tobin nods she adds, “I kind of figured when it went out shortly after you and Kelley left. Is she ok?”

“I think so,” Tobin admits with a small shake of her head, “I told her to go home yesterday because she was… well, wasn’t handling it well. Haven’t heard from her yet today.”

“She’s at Alex’s,” Christen says, earning her a confused look from Tobin. She smiles and explains, “Alex texted me last night and told me Kelley was there.”

Tobin chuckles slightly, “She actually listened to me.”

“You told her to go to Alex’s?” Christen asks, sounding just a bit surprised.

“There aren’t many people that understand Kelley,” Tobin shrugs, “I couldn’t leave work and her and Alex have been close forever.”

“I always thought that had a crush on each other in high school,” Christen admits with a smile.

“You’re joking right?” Tobin asks with a laugh, “They’ve been crazy about each other since then. Both just too damn stubborn to admit it.” Tobin chuckles again and adds,

“Guess Kelley and I have more in common than I used to think.”

Christen smiles at that, “I still can’t believe you two lived together for years.”

“Surprised me too,” Tobin admits with a chuckle. “I guess we needed each other back then more than we realized we did.” There silence for a moment before Tobin adds, “She followed me out of the wedding that day, talk to me out in the parking lot.”

“I wondered where she had gone,” Christen admits with a sigh. “After you left Ash pulled me outside for some air. My head was spinning, and I just kept thinking I had made such a huge mistake. By the time we came back inside, Kelley had left, told Alex that something came up and she needed to help a friend out.”

“That would have been me,” Tobin admits with a nod. “We spent the rest of the night at my place drinking and then decided in the morning that we should just leave town for a while.”

“Where’d you go?” Christen asks softly.

Tobin chuckles and answers, “Believe it or not but if you drive west long enough you run into some really beautiful mountains. We found a place in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania that rented out cabins and spent three weeks there.”

“You actually got Kelley to spend three weeks in the woods?” Christen asks with a chuckle.

“Yea,” Tobin smiles but nods, “She actually seemed to enjoy it. No phones, no internet, no TV. It was an amazing break from the world that we both needed.”

“That sounds amazing,” Christen all but groans, “I can’t imagine having three weeks free like that.”

“Haven’t been able to do it since then,” Tobin sighs, “Really would like to find a few weeks to disappear again.”

“Might be something to do this summer,” Christen offers and Tobin nods her agreement. “When did Kelley decide to change her major?”

“Last few days we were there,” Tobin answers. “She asked me why I wanted to do it and thought about it for a few days. Said on the drive home that she was going to switch when we got back. Pretty much been partnered up ever since.”

“I’m glad you two had each other,” Christen says, just enough regret in her voice to cause Tobin to turn and face her. They’re now sitting facing each other, Christen resting her against the back of the couch and Tobin, one leg bent in front of her.

“You didn’t have anyone out there, did you?” Tobin asks. She doesn’t know why she asks, she’s pretty sure she already knows the answer. The pained look that quickly crosses Christen’s face before she shakes her head tells Tobin she was right.

“It wasn’t so bad,” Christen says, sitting back so that her back now rest against the arm of the couch. “I had a few friends at the college I went to out there but it wasn’t easy. Eric,” Christen stops her eyes going back to meet Tobin’s and she sighs, “he didn’t like me having friends that weren’t his. It, well, it got tough trying to explain why I couldn’t go out to meet friends so after a while, I just stopped trying.”

“I had a feeling something like that was going on,” Tobin admits. “He was starting it before you guys got married.”

“Why do I keep feeling like I’m the only one that didn’t see all that?” Christen asked, frustration lacing her voice.

“Sometimes it’s hard to see the bad in someone when we just want them to be who we think they are,” Tobin tries to explain. “It’s not always easy to see things when you’re so close to them.”

Christen is silent for a moment but then nods, “I guess so.” There’s silence for another moment before she asks, “So, what’s it been like? Being a police officer.”

Tobin smiles, “It’s been interesting for sure.”

“That’s it?” Christen asks with a growing smile, “I haven’t gotten to hear any stories in six years, I know you have to have some good ones.”

Tobin chuckles and nods, “Well, it’s not like I have six years of police stories to tell. It was another two years of college after you left, then almost another year until we got into and through the academy. Spent one year on patrol and the last two as detectives.”

“Wow,” Christen says, just a touch of wonder in her voice, “You’ve done so much. I’ve barely done anything since finishing school.”

“You’ve got your teaching degree right?” Tobin asks and Christen nods, “Well, there’s no time like now to get started with that. This area has plenty of schools that need good teachers.”

“How do you know I’m a good teacher?” Christen asks with a touch of the old teasing smile Tobin remembers so well.

“Chris please,” Tobin says and rolls her eyes, “You literally come from a family of teachers. Besides, I remember how you used to drag me down to that preschool to help volunteer during high school. You were amazing with the kids. I highly doubt that’s changed.”

Christen smiles but shakes her head, looking down at her hands in her lap, “You also thought so highly of me,” she says in such a small voice that Tobin’s heart aches.

“You’ve never given yourself enough credit,” Tobin says in a soft voice. “You’ve always thought so poorly of yourself and I never understood why.”

Christen feels her face flush slightly and she looks away, “I guess I never saw myself the way you did.”

“No kidding,” Tobin chuckles softly, “Remember when you thought no one would want to ask you to prom and then half the football team tried?”

“Oh my god,” Christen says, covering her mouth with both hands as she laughs, “That was so embarrassing.”

“Only when the linebacker decided to try and sing to ask you out,” Tobin laughs. “I’m still convinced he was obsessed with Glee.”

“Like you can talk,” Christen chuckles as she drops her hands into her lap. “You loved that show.”

“Liked,” Tobin counters.

“Bull,” Christen says flatly, “and I know for a fact that you cried while watching it.”

“I did not,” Tobin says, knowing for a fact she had at a number of times at least teared up.

Christen doesn’t say anything but the look on her is a classic, _Bitch please_.

“Ok, maybe a few times,” Tobin gives in after a moment, “but only because I could relate to some of it. You cried almost every episode.”

“Not every episode,” Christen laughs, “but most of them,” she agrees with a nod then adds, “I was also jealous a few times.”

“Jealous?” Tobin asks confused. “how so?”

Christen feel her face blush but she answers, “I was jealous of Santana. I mean, she was kind of a bitch but she never let anyone walk over her and even before she was out she always seemed so sure of herself,” Christen hesitates a second before she says, “Plus, I was pretty sure you had a crush on her.”

Tobin doesn’t even try to hold back the laugh, “I’m pretty sure that everyone had a crush on Santana.”

“Probably,” Christen agrees with a shrug, “but still. It seemed like she was your favorite character.”

“I could relate the most with her I think,” Tobin shrugs, “you know, without the whole sleeping with all the guys things,” she adds with a chuckle. “The whole, falling in love with your best friend and being terrified of that.”

“You were in love with me in high school?” Christen asks, feeling a smile pull at the corner of her lips.

“Caught that huh?” Tobin asks with a crocked grin.

Christen nods, still trying to hold back her smile.

“Never could get anything past you,” Tobin mutters but sighs and says, “Yea, I think it was Senior year when I realized I’d fallen for you. Scared the hell out of me.”

“Why’d it scare you?” Christen ask, titling her just slightly to the side.

“What if you didn’t feel that way about me?” Tobin answers with a shrug, “I wasn’t going to risk losing the best friendship I had ever had in my life over what I thought was just a silly crush.”

“Was it?” Christen asks, “just a silly crush?”

Tobin shakes her head but before she gets a chance to say anything Anna comes running into the room.

“Mommy,” she exclaims as she attempts to leap onto the couch but doesn’t quite make it.

“Hey there munchkin,” Christen smiles as she reaches down and picks up Anna, sitting her in the middle of the couch, between her and Tobin. Anna takes a moment and looks from Christen to Tobin and back to her mother.

“Poppa says that breakfast is ready,” Anna says with a small nod, “and he told me to come and tell you two to bring your butts to the kitchen,” she adds with a smile.

“Did he now,” Christen ask as she looks at Tobin and rolls her eyes and making Tobin chuckle.

A few minutes later they were all sitting around the small table in the eat in kitchen.

“So, Tobin,” Cody ask after everyone has filled their plates, “How are things at work?”

“Not bad,” Tobin answers with a nod. “Spent last night tracking down a suspect on our case. Haven’t found him yet but we’re closer now. Just waiting for him to make another mistake.”

“What kind of mistake?” Christen asks from her seat across from Tobin.

“Simple stuff,” Tobin shrugs then takes a bite of food. “Using his credit card or cell phone. Sam way we were able to trace him from South Dakota, also where our victim is from, to here.”

“How long does that kind of thing take?” Christen ask.

“Took us until six this morning to track him here,” Tobin answers with a sigh.

“Wait, were you at work all night?” Christen ask with a hint of worry.

Tobin hesitates before she nods again and says, “Yea, I came straight here from the station. Told them I’d be back in four hours to see if there’s a new lead.”

“You should have gone home and slept Tobin,” Christen says in a stern voice, “You need sleep.”

“Also needed food,” Tobin says with a smile as she lifts another fork full of food to her mouth.

“True,” Christen concedes briefly, “but after breakfast you need to go home and sleep before you go back to work.”

Cody doesn’t miss the amused look that crosses Tobin’s face at his daughter’s words and he watches the two as they interact and can’t help but smile. He’s reminded of a time not all so long ago where everyone seemed happy. Before Christen had moved away, before the wedding, before his wife had died, back when life had seemed so simple and easy. His heart ached for the day that things could be good again.

**

“Glad to see at least one of us looks like they’ve slept in the last three days,” Kelley says as she sits in the chair behind her desk, opposite Tobin.

“Two hour power nap after breakfast,” Tobin agrees with a nod, “hot shower and I’m as good as new.” She takes a moment to take in her partner. It’s never been hard for Tobin to tell when Kelley’s had a rough night but today she looks worse than Tobin can remember seeing her in recent years. “You get any sleep at all?”

Kelley snorts a laugh, “I don’t know. Five minutes,” she shrugs. When she looks up to meet Tobin’s gaze she continues, “I slept some. Stayed at Alex’s house last night. Pretty sure she’s going to be dead on her feet at work today.”

“Alex can handle it,” Tobin assures her with a small smile. “I’m just glad you weren’t alone last night.”

“I see you got a lot done while I was away,” is Kelley’s answers and Tobin nods, knowing that it’s time to change gears and switch back into work mode.

“You could say that,” Tobin nods, “We managed to track down the ex, Keith Clauson, through his credit cards and cell phone. He got here a day after Veronica and the last credit card use was at a bar about three blocks from where we found her.”

“Nothing since?” Kelley asks lifting an eyebrow. “Hotels, gas stations?”

“Nope,” Tobin answers, popping the p as she does. “Completely fell off the grind.”

“So either he’s already so far out of our area that we aren’t getting hits anymore,” Kelley reasons, “or he’s walking around with of cash on him.”

“Or working with someone,” Tobin adds and when Kelley makes a skeptical face she adds, “Can’t rule anything out at this point.”

“Fair,” Kelley agrees with a nod as she sits back in her chair, blowing out a breath in frustration. “So we’re stuck waiting for this guy to screw up.”

“I’ve already got units out canvasing the area again,” Tobin says, “They’re out knocking on doors, taking statements. Hopefully someone speaks up, but I thought we should stop by the bar this Clauson was at right before the murder. See what they can tell us.”

“Anything beats sitting around here,” Kelley answers as she comes to her feet. A few moments later, as they make their way out of the station Kelley looks and Tobin and says,

“How are Christen and her dad?”

“Wow,” Tobin chuckles, “you actually waited a whole twenty minutes longer that I though you were going to.”

“Smartass,” Kelley manages a weak smile. “I figured you’d still gone over, even after spending the night here. You were gone little more than four hours and you said you only slept about two.”

“I told the kid I’d stop by,” Tobin shrugs off the remark.

“Wiped by a four year old already,” Kelley chuckles as they reach Tobin’s car.

“Very cute,” Tobin mutter as she unlocks the car doors. “Keep it up and you’re going to be walking to work from now on.”

“You’re always grouchy when you don’t get enough sleep,” Kelley jokes as she slides into the passenger seat of the car. She waits until Tobin has the engine running before she asks, “Are you and Chris going to try and work things out?”

Tobin thinks back to just a few hours ago, when she had gone to say goodbye before heading home for some rest.

_“You really didn’t have to walk me out,” Tobin says as she and Christen stand next to her car, in Cody’s driveway._

_“You used to always insist on walking me home or to the door when we were in high school,” Christen smiles at the memory._

_“True,” Tobin nods her agreement, “but now a days I tend to travel armed so there’s a lot less to worry about.”_

_“Guess I hadn’t thought of that,” Christen chuckles, “but still. Thank you for coming over this morning. Anna’s been talking about you since the game yesterday. I think you’re her new hero.”_

_“I know I’m a star on the field but after only one game,” Tobin chuckles, “I must be better than I thought.”_

_Christen laughs and gives Tobin’s shoulder a playful shove, “Smartass.” Christen hesitates then asks, “Would you want to come over some time this week for dinner?”_

_“I can’t make any promises right now,” Tobin answers honestly, “A lot is going to depend on if we get any new leads on this case or not. It could be a very long week.”_

_“That has to be hard sometimes,” Christen says softly._

_“It has it’s moments,” Tobin acknowledges with a sigh._

_“Here,” Christen says as she reaches into Tobin’s dress jacket and pulls out the notepad from the inside pocket. When Tobin gives her a strange look she shrugs and says, “I saw you pull it out earlier when Anna wanted to draw.” She flips the notebook open and writes on it quickly, “I had to get a new phone number when I got back.”_

_She hands the notebook back to Tobin who looks down at the perfect handwriting. She puts the notebook back inside her jacket and pulls a business card out of her back pants pocket._

_“I changed my number after college,” Tobin says as Christen takes the card and looks it over._

_“Detective Heath,” Christen says, reading the card out loud. Something in the way she says Tobin’s name makes the detective flush slightly. “It has a nice ring to it,” Christen smiles as she looks back at Tobin._

_“Takes some getting used to,” Tobin admits with a smile, “but I should get going.”_

_“Right, well, hopefully I’ll see you soon,” Christen says in a low, unsure voice, looking down at the ground._

_“Count on it,” Tobin says and when Christen looks back at her there’s a large smile on her face. Before Tobin has a chance to say anything else Christen throws her arms around her neck. Tobin is shocked for a moment before she wraps her arms around Christen’s waist, pulling her closer into the hug. She leans down, burying her nose in the crock of Christen’s neck, just for a moment, and takes a deep breath._

_For just a moment Tobin remembers all the things she’s spent the last six years trying to forget, how her heart stops when she feels Christen’s skin, or how her breath catches when she caught the scent of the shampoo Christen apparently still uses and she just wishes that this moment could last forever._

“Yea,” Tobin nods, “I think we are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so long to get to you guys but I'm going to try and go back to posting a new chapter every two weeks (opposite weeks of my other work Coming Home), which should give me enough time to get it written and out to you guys.  
> As always, thank you so much to all of you that are still sticking with me!! You guys are the best!!!!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for some detective work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should probably put a warning on this chapter because there are some details about the murder in this one.

“You’re seriously trying to tell me that you’ve never seen this guy before?” Kelley asks of the man standing behind the bar for a third time. The man in huge, easily twice the size of Kelley, though by her demeanor she either hasn’t noticed, which is not likely, or simply doesn’t care, which is what Tobin is willing to bet at this point.

“Listen lady,” the bartender says, his voice verging on anger, “we see dozens of people in here every night. How am I supposed to remember one random guy?”

Tobin, who had been circling the bar, looking for ways out and anything else that might seem relevant, finally reaches the bar, coming to a stop beside her partner.

“It was a Wednesday night,” Kelley counters, leaning against the bar, sliding the pictures of their suspect towards the man again, “You trying to tell me that you’re so busy in here on a Wednesday in May that you don’t remember seeing our guy?”

“Does she have hearing problems?” the man behind the bar ask, looking at Tobin.

“You have a memory problem?” Kelley fires back quickly. “We’re looking for a kid and refusing to help can make you an accessory.”

“Now look,” the man says, placing his hands on the bar and leaning towards Kelley, “I don’t know anything about no kid, or this guy, so unless you have a warrant to be here you need to leave.”

“Come on Kel,” Tobin says, laying a hand on Kelley’s forearm, “Let’s take a look out back.”

Kelley hesitates for a second, still locking eyes with the bartender, before she shoves away from the bar and walks outside with Tobin.

“Well, that could have gone better,” Tobin says with a sigh.

“That guy’s an asshole,” Kelley mumbles.

“Let’s take a look out back,” Tobin offers in leu of a response to her comment. She starts walking down the small alley between the bar and the building next door, knowing that Kelley is beside her.

They walk in silence for a moment before Tobin asks, “You want to talk about it?”

Kelley doesn’t answer, just shakes her head, looking down at the ground as they walk.

“It’s fine you know,” Tobin continues, “not talking about it. I mean, I know we have in the past, but that doesn’t mean you have to talk to me every time it bothers you. Not saying that you can’t, because you know you can.”

Kelley chuckles and says, “Did you babble this much with Chris this morning?”

“Cute,” Tobin chuckles then adds, “no. We actually talked a bit about high school.”

“That feels like forever ago,” Kelley sighs as they reach the rear entrance of the bar.

“It was,” Tobin agrees with a nod. She then takes a surveying look of the alley. “How far is it to where we found our vic?”

“Three blocks,” Kelley answers and points towards another small alley, “that way.”

“So our guy could have just gone for a walk,” Tobin theorizes, “We need to see if we got the log from our victim’s cell phone. See if we can track her to this area.”

“Hang on,” Kelley says as she pulls her cell phone out of her pocket and quickly dials a number. When Tobin gives her a quizzical look she shrugs and says, “I made a friend with a tech nerd.”

Before Tobin has a chance to asks Kelley takes a step away and starts talking to the person on the other end. With a sigh Tobin digs her own phone out, having felt it vibrate while she was in the bar. She never so much as thinks about looking at her phone while she’s on a scene, unless she absolutely has to, it takes too much attention away from what she’s supposed to be doing.

She’s a little surprised to see that the message is from Christen, she had saved her number right after she had gotten back to her apartment that morning.

**Is it weird that it took my almost half an hour to try and come up with a good reason to text you? -Christen**

Tobin chuckles but types out a quick response, **Not really. You always were the shy one.**

**Very cute. I was starting to think I had made a fool of myself.**

**Not at all. Kelley and I were just talking to some less than useful witnesses.**

“Here we go,” Kelley says, tucking her phone back into her pocket, “my tech dude traced our vic’s phone. Last time she used her phone was two block from here, at some corner store.”

“Brilliant,” Tobin says, putting her own phone away. “Let’s head over that way.”

They walk about a block before Kelley asks, “Who were you texting?”

Tobin rolls her eyes but answers, “Chris.”

“Thought so,” Kelley says with a grin and Tobin gives her shoulder a playful shove she adds, “You had that look on your face.”

“What look?” Tobin asks.

“That goofy ass smile,” Kelley answers with a chuckle. “I could always tell when you were talking to Christen when we were in high school because you had that same look on your face. Haven’t seen it in six years.”

“A lot’s changed in six years,” Tobin says with a sigh, “we aren’t the same people we were back then.”

“We aren’t,” Kelley agrees with a nod, “but that doesn’t mean that we don’t still have the same connections we had back then and you two definitely still have a connection.”

“I don’t know Kel,” Tobin admits, “I’m just worried about jumping right back into emotions like this.”

“You remember that girl you dated in our first year at college?” Kelley asks as they reach the corner store that had been the last place their victim had used their cell phone.

“Lauren?” Tobin asks confused.

“Yea,” Kelley nods, “You and her ended on pretty good terms right?”

Tobin chuckles but answers, “She said I was clearly in love with someone else and we’d never work because of it.”

“Go figure,” Kelley mumbles, “So let’s say that Lauren showed up here today. What would you think?”

“That my past is literally coming back to haunt me,” Tobin laughs but when Kelley levels a look at her she adds, “Ok, probably that it’s nice to see her but that’s about it.”

“Right,” Kelley nods, “no connection, no feeling nervous and certainly no goofy ass smiles.”

“So you’re saying that, what exactly?” Tobin asks.

“I’m just saying that maybe it doesn’t count as jumping back into feelings, when you never really stopped having those feelings in the first place,” Kelley offers.

Tobin doesn’t have an immediate answer but she does feel her phone vibrate in her pocket again.

“So this is the last spot out victim used her phone,” Tobin says, switching gears.

“Yea,” Kelley nods, “and she was found around the corner.”

“It would have been nothing for him to leave the bar, meet our victim, kill her and walk back,” Tobin sighs. “This is less than helpful unless we get some idea as to where he went after.”

“True,” Kelley nods again, about that time her phone starts to ring. “It’s my tech dude,” Kelley says looking at the screen of her phone.

While she puts her phone to her ear, Tobin pulls her phone out and reads the text.

**Sounds like things aren’t going so well on your case. -Christen**

**Not the way I was hoping they would. -Tobin**

She hesitates a moment then types out another message, **If you’re not busy this evening, maybe we can get dinner?**

“Awesome,” she hears Kelley say and looks over at her partner, who is now beaming.

“Tell me your guy has something,” Tobin says hopefully.

“First off, never said it was a guy,” Kelley corrects but continues, “and yes, they were able to get a ping on our guys cell phone.”

“You’re kidding me,” Tobin says, putting her phone away.

“Nope,” Kelley smiles as they start walking back to where they’d left Tobin’s car. “He’s at a hotel about fifteen miles from here.”

“Brilliant,” Tobin says as they pick up their pace, she misses the vibration of her phone.  
**

“How long have we been sitting here?” Kelley asks somewhat impatiently from the passenger seat of Tobin’s car.

“Half an hour,” Tobin says in a low voice. They’d found the hotel where their suspects cell phone had pinged at but hadn’t been able to match any of the license plates on the vehicles in the parking lot to him.

The man working behind the desk hadn’t been able to help them when they showed him the picture of their suspect but explained that he only worked there three days a week and hadn’t been there since last week.

“How long does it take to get a warrant signed?” Kelley complains.

“As long as it takes,” Tobin answers, eyes glued to the outside doors of the hotel rooms, waiting for any movement.

“You’d think that with there being a missing kid involved they’d sped their asses up,” Kelley huffs. She waits a moment then asks, “So you still talking with Christen?”

Tobin huffs a laugh and says, “I asked her if she wanted to get dinner tonight.”

“What’d she say?” Kelley asks.

Tobin winces and answers, “I haven’t checked my phone since we got this lead.”

“What the hell man,” Kelley leans over and slaps Tobin’s shoulder. “You don’t ask someone out to dinner and then ignore your phone.”

“We’re working,” Tobin says in her defense, “I rarely ever check my phone.”

“Well, check it now,” Kelley says and gestures at the parking lot, “I’ll keep my eyes open for our guy.”

Tobin shakes her head at her friend but does pull her phone out and looks at the message waiting for her.

**I can do dinner. As long as you’re free. I know you’re working a case right now. -Christen**

Tobin smiles down at the message and taps out a quick reply.

**Not entirely sure if I can still do dinner. We found a lead and Kelley and I are staking the place out until we get a warrant. Don’t know how long it’s going to take but I can let you know when we’re close to being done. -Tobin**

Tobin sits her phone down in the center console of the car and looks at Kelley, who’s watching the parking lot.

“Happy?” Tobin asks her and she nods. Tobin follows Kelley’s eyes and they land on a man standing out on the upper outside walkway of the hotel. He’s talking on a phone and pacing back and forth.

“Tell me he’s dumb enough to be using his cell phone right now,” Kelley says as she pulls out her phone. She quickly dials and number and says into it, “Hey Alex, can you ping that phone again for me? Is it active right now?”

There’s silence and Tobin throws Kelley a questioning look to which Kelley just shrugs.

“Damn,” Kelley mumbles into the phone there’s another pause then she sighs, “yea, thanks anyway. I’ll see you later.”

“Not our guy?” Tobin asks, still watching the man who looks remarkably like their suspect.

“Not his phone,” Kelley corrects. “Could be a burner.”

“Could be,” Tobin nods. “I’ll tell you what. Let’s go say hi and see how he reacts.”

“Sounds fun,” Kelley says with an enormous smile.

They get out of the car and cross the street quickly. Once they reach the hotel Kelley takes the long way around to the stairs leading up to the second floor on the opposite side of the hotel, while Tobin climbs the stairs closest to where they parked.

As Tobin approaches the man he looks up at quickly before looking back down at the floor. When Tobin is a few feet away he looks up again, this time she’s holding her badge up.

The man’s reaction is instant, he drops the phone in his hand and sprints as fast as he can down the hallway.

_Why do they always have to run?_

What he doesn’t know is that Kelley has reached the top of the stairs and they collide, going down hard.

Tobin, who had taken off after their suspect arrives as the man is trying to scramble back to his feet.

“No you don’t,” Tobin says as she grabs his arm, pinning him back to the ground. “Just stay down,” she mutter as she pulls her handcuffs out of her jacket pocket.

“I didn’t do anything,” the man says fighting some as he’s cuffed.

“Sure you didn’t. All the innocent people run,” Tobin says shaking her head. She looks over at Kelley as she stands up and asks, “You alright?”

“Son of a bitch,” Kelley mutters as she stands up, “bastard ripped my jacket.” Kelley says looking down at her suit jacket that now spots a tear down the inside seam.

“You get body slammed and that’s your only complaint?” Tobin says shaking her head she turns back to the handcuffed man still on the ground. She grabs his arms and hauls him to his feet.

“Where’s Joey?” Tobin ask, smile gone.

“Who’s Joey?” the man asks but isn’t fouling Tobin for one second.

“Very cute Keith,” Tobin says, turning him around so he’s leaning against the waist high railing that runs around the walkway. Tobin keeps her hand in the middle of his back while Kelley pats him down.

“I’m not Keith,” the man says as Kelley pulls his wallet out of his back pocket, flipping it open she gives the man a dull look.

“Dude, if you’re going to lie about your name,” Kelley says holding up his wallet, driver’s license showing, “you probably should have ditched your license.”

“Damn it,” Keith mutters then nods, “alright, fine. That’s me.”

“Where’s Joey Keith?” Tobin asks again, turning him back around to face them.

“I didn’t mean to hurt her,” Keith starts but stops when Kelley holds up a hand.

“Save it,” Kelley says shortly, “where’s the kid?”

Keith hesitates, looking from Tobin to Kelley and back again before hanging his head and saying, “he’s in room 214. Key’s in my left pocket.”

“You got him?” Kelley asks Tobin who nods as she tightens her grip on Keith’s right hand, placing another hand on his shoulder. Kelley carefully reaches into his pocket and pulls out the key for the room.

She makes her way back down the walkway, counting off room as she does, until she reaches room 214. Using the key she carefully opens the door and looks inside.

“Joey?” Kelley calls softly into the dark room. She’s meant by the sound of sniffles coming form the far side of the bed and she slowly walks into the hotel room, looking around as she does.

Tobin arrives with the handcuffed Keith but keeps him out of the room.

When Kelley rounds the end of the bed she sees him, Joey, knees pulled up to his chest and tears streaming down his face. The kid looks like he’s barely slept the last few days and is trembling slightly.

“Hey buddy,” Kelley says kindly, crouching so that she’s on the same level as him. “I’m detective O’Hara. Your grandparents sent me to come find you.”

The boy hesitates, looking Kelley up and down, his eyes landing on the badge clipped to his belt, before he springs from his spot, wrapping his arms around Kelley’s neck as he begins to cry harder.

“I got you buddy,” Kelley says as she wraps her arms around him.

“I want my mom,” Joey cries into Kelley’s shoulder and she squeezes shut her eyes against the sudden tears she feels.

“Let’s get you out of here,” Kelley says after a moment and she stands, still with Joey in her arms.

**

“I don’t know Kelley,” Tobin says an hour later as the pair stand in the observation room watching Keith sweat it out.

“What’s there to know?” Kelley ask, “He confessed, wouldn’t shut up about it actually even after we told him three times that he had the right to remain silent.”

“Something just doesn’t feel right with this,” Tobin says shaking her head. “There’s more to this than we’re seeing right now.”

“I hate when you do that,” Kelley mumbles.

“Do what?” Tobin asks, sparing a glance at her partner.

“Get one of those feelings of yours,” Kelley answers with a huff, “It always means more work.”

Tobin chuckles at that but nods her head.

They’d gotten Joey back to his grandparents two hours ago. The reunion had been tearful and it ripped at Tobin’s heart every time Joey had asked for his mother.

 _Joey’s about the same age as Anna_ , Tobin thinks to herself, _I can’t even imagine._

Thinking about Anna reminds Tobin that it had been a while since she had checked her phone so she pulls it out and checks her messages. Nothing.

_I did tell her I’d let her know if I could still do dinner._

**Hey, sorry. It’s been a day but if I’m lucky I should be done in the next two hours. Kind of a late dinner but, if you’re still up for it, I can pick you up after I leave the station. -Tobin**

She hits sends and replaces her phone in her pocket.

“Let’s go talk to our guy,” Tobin says nodding to Kelley.

“Keith, Keith, Keith,” Kelley tisks as she and Tobin step into the interrogation room. “You’ve got a less than impressive resume here my friend,” Kelley continues as she drops his criminal record on the table in front of where he sits, handcuffed to the center of the table.

“Couple of petty theft, a dozen moving violations,” Kelley says as she takes the seat opposite him at the table. Tobin leans against the wall farthest from the door, arms folded across her chest, and stays quiet.

“And it looks like you have a little bit of a drug problem,” Kelley continues.

Keith’s eyes move from Kelley to Tobin and back again, “A little,” he acknowledges with a nod.

“Might explain the thefts then,” Kelley says plainly, “needed the cash huh?”

“Right,” Keith says with another nod as she glances at Tobin quickly.

This was a technique Tobin and Kelley had worked out in their rookie year on the force. Kelley, the naturally talkative of the pair, would start off strong, chatting the suspect up, while Tobin, dubbed the ‘too serious’ one stood by and quietly observed. They’d found that it had a tremendous effect on making the suspect nervous, and thus, to talk more.

“So I’m going to need your help understanding something,” Kelley says, leaning back in the chair, “Why make the jump from minor shit like this, to murder?”

“I didn’t want to hurt her,” Keith starts, shaking his head. “I just wanted to talk to her, to see my son. She never even told me I had a son.”

“You did skip town on her Keith,” Kelley reasons.

“She still should have told me,” Keith says and instead of the anger they’d been expecting, his voice seems to shrink and he looks down at the table. “It’s not like it’s that hard anymore. Everyone has a phone.”

Kelley glances at Tobin quickly before saying, “That’s true. It’s harder to go unnoticed anymore. So, tell me what happened.”

“I heard from a friend about Joey,” Keith starts looking back up at Kelley, “Can you imagine that? I heard from a friend, who saw it on Facebook. That’s how I learned I had a son.”

“How are you so sure he’s yours?” Kelley asks.

“He looks just like me,” this time Keith does raise his voice, but still not at the level Tobin had been expecting.

“How’d you know she was going to be here?” Kelley asks, trying to keep the conversation moving forward.

“Same friend, told me they were planning a trip,” Keith says with a shrug, “So I called her, she still had the same number, and told her I knew about Joey and I wanted to see him. She told me no.”

“How’d that make you feel?” Kelley asks and Keith shakes his head, looking back down at the table again.

“I was pissed,” Keith finally answers, “but I didn’t know what I could do so I went for a drink. Some dive bar, it was dark. I started drinking and some guy at the bar started asks me stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?” Kelley asks, managing to keep the surprise out of her voice at this new piece of information.

“He said he could tell I was pissed and that I needed to let it out,” Keith sniffles. “He kept buying me drinks and we played some pool.”

 _There’s the blue chalk_ , Tobin thinks to herself.

“I finally told him everything and he convinced me to call her again.”

“What’d she say this time?” Kelley probes.

“That she’d think about it,” Keith says through clenched teeth. “She’d think about letting me see my son. That’s when the guy said he knew a way to find her.”

“He said what?” Kelley asks not able to keep that surprise in check.

“He said it wasn’t hard to track someone’s phone,” Keith continues, obviously missing the surprise in Kelley’s voice. “That if I called her back, even if she didn’t answer, he could tell me where she was.”

“So you called her again?” Kelley continues to probe.

“Yea,” Keith nods his head, tears filling his eyes, “she wasn’t even three whole blocks from that damn bar. He said he’d walk with me, make sure I had to courage to confront her.”

“Do you remember what this guy looked like?” Kelley asks but Keith was shaking his head before she finished.

“The bar was dark,” he answers, “so was the alleyway where his van was.”

“He had a van?” Kelley continues, “Do you remember what it looked like?”

“Old,” Keith answers, “smelled funny too, but he offered to drive me and I was drunk so I said sure.”

“Ok,” Kelley sighs, taking in all the new information. “What happened when you met up with Veronica?”

“She had Joey with her, at some corner market thing,” Keith says as tears continue to stream down his cheeks, “He looks so much like me.”

“Focus here Keith,” Kelley says just sharp enough to get his attention.

“She started yelling at me, telling me I had no right,” Keith shakes his head. “We ended up in an alley and that’s when,” Keith stops, digging the palms of his hands into his eyes, as though he was trying to rub the memory out of his mind. “He grabbed her, pulled her into the van. He told me to get Joey and put him up front.”

“What happened next?” Kelley ask, her voice back to being level and controlled.

“He put a bag over her head,” Keith says crying now, “and… I couldn’t watch. I covered my face until the noise was over. When I looked again…” Keith lays his head down on the table, still sobbing.

Kelley looks back at Tobin, still standing against the wall, her face impassive, but she gives Kelley a short nod.

**

Christen feels her phone vibrate in her pocket as the last song comes on, she and Anna had been watching Moana for what had to be the hundredth time since the movie had come out.

She fishes her phone out of her pocket and smiles when she sees it’s a text from Tobin.

“I know that smile,” her father speaks up from his chair sitting diagonal from the couch.

“What smile?” Christen says as she tries to wipe the smirk from her face.

“The smile you also get when you’re talking to Tobin,” her father answers with a smile.

“We’re discussing dinner,” Christen admits, letting the smile come back before she sighs. “Dad, do you think I should have waited to text her? Maybe it was too soon.”

Her father chuckles, “Honey, it’s been six years. I think you two have waited long enough to talk.”

“That’s it, it’s been six years,” Christen nods her head, “A lot changes in six years.” She looks down at her daughter, who had fallen asleep just a few minutes ago. “A lot,” she repeats.

“Sweetheart, time doesn’t matter when love’s involved,” her father offers with a kind smile. “Trust me on this, some things may have changed, but that doesn’t mean the two of you can’t still find each other again.”

Christen doesn’t say anything but she does nod her head. After another moment of thought she types out a reply.

**Sounds great. I’ll be ready. -Christen**


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tobin pays a visit to the Press house after work.

An hour after Keith had confessed to what had really happened Tobin sits down heavily in her desk chair, feeling more drained than she felt like she should. They’d spent that time getting Keith to put his statement on to paper and arrange for him to be transferred to holding until the charges were formally charged. 

“You look like hell,” Kelley says as she sits opposite Tobin, behind her own desk.

“Gee, thanks,” Tobin smirks. 

“So, much for wrapping this up today,” Kelley exhales as she slumps down in her chair. 

“I didn’t realize that the thing we were missing was a mysterious killer,” Tobin agrees with a nod.

“You and that damn brain,” Kelley agrees with a grin. She waits a moment before asking, “Didn’t you have dinner plans?”

Tobin winces as she looks at her watch, “Might be a little late for dinner.”

“Don’t know unless you ask,” Kelley says with a shrug.

Tobin nods but hesitates looking at her phone, which she’d tossed onto the center of her desk before she’d sat down. With one last nod she snatches it up but instead of texting she decides to call.

The phone rings a few times before Christen’s voice answers, “Tobin? Is everything ok?”

Tobin can’t help but smile at the sound of her name, “Yea, sorry. I know that it’s a bit later than I had hoped, but we got a little wrapped up in the case.”

“It’s ok,” Christen says and there just the slights bit of relief in her voice. “I was just surprised you called.”

“Yea,” Tobin hesitates, “I just thought it’d be easier right now. Hope that’s ok.”

“It’s great,” Christen says and Tobin thinks she can hear the other woman smiling through the line. “I just finished giving Anna her bath so it’s actually really good timing.”

“Oh wow, guess it’s later than I realized,” Tobin says with a wince. 

Christen laughs and says, “It’s really not, unless you’re four, then it’s an early bedtime.”

“Can’t say I’d object to an early bedtime,” Tobin says, sounding more tired than she had meant to.

“If you want to do dinner another night,” Christen starts.

“No, it’s not that,” Tobin says quickly. “I’d still like to do dinner, well a late dinner I guess. If you want to.”

“I’d love to,” Christen says without any hesitation. “If you wait about another half an hour I’ll have Anna in bed.”

“Actually,” Tobin says, “if it’s ok, I’d like to come before then.”

“Um, yea,” Christen says a bit unsure, “no problem.”

“Ok,” Tobin says with a nod, “I’ll be right over.”

The call ends and Tobin looks across her desk to see Kelley smiling at her.

“Shut up,” Tobin says but with a smile. She hesitates a second as she stands up, “Are you going to be alright tonight?”

“Don’t worry about me,” Kelley says dismissively but when Tobin levels her with a look she sighs and says, “I already talked to Alex, I’m going to go over there in a bit.”

“Good,” Tobin says with a nod.

“Now get out of here,” Kelley says with a wave of her hand, “and tell Chris I said hi.”

**

“Who was on the phone sweetheart,” Cody Press say watching his daughter smile at her phone as she walks into the living room.

“Tobin,” Christen answers attempting to wipe the smile from her face, “she’s going to come over.”

“Good,” her father nods, looking back at the journal in his hands. “Need me to watch Anna?”

“Maybe,” Christen says as she sits beside her father, “Tobin sounded really tired and I know her case has been tough on both her and Kelley.”

“You can always stay here,” her father offers, looking over the top of his journal.

“Dad,” Christen says giving him a look.

“I just mean that there’s plenty here to eat and you two can get caught up better here than in a restaurant full of people,” her father explains. 

“True,” Christen says trying to hide her smile. Her father’s comment gives Christen an idea and with a smile she stands up from the couch and heads up to her room.

Twenty minutes later there is a knock on the door and Christen does her best to trample her excitement and nerves as she heads to the door. Taking a steadying deep breath she opens the door, Tobin stands there looking even more tired than she had this morning.

“Hi,” Tobin says with a small, tired smile.

“Hi,” Christen says a bit breathlessly as she lets Tobin in. “How’d everything turn out with your case?”

“Good,” Tobin says as they make their way towards the living room, “We found the missing kid, but also found that we’re still looking for another suspect. Stuck waiting now for forensics to give us some kind of clues.”

“That has to be frustrating,” Christen nods walking beside Tobin.

“It can be,” Tobin shrugs, “I’m just happy we were able to find the kid.”

“Speaking of kids,” Christen smiles as they reach the living room and Anna catches sight of Tobin. The four year old had been sitting beside her grandfather but when she sees Tobin she wiggles down from the couch and heads over to her, big smile on her face.

“Hi Tobin,” she says as she comes to a stop in front of the two women, “Did you come to have a sleepover?”

Tobin can’t help but chuckle at the innocent question from the child and glances at Christen, who has a slight blush on her cheeks, “Not exactly but I did come over to see you.”

“You did?” Anna asks sounding awed.

“Yep,” Tobin says popping the p as she crouches down in front of Anna. “Me and aunt Kelley helped a little boy today, who was lost, and it made me think about you and your mommy, so I wanted to come say hi before you went to bed.”

The admission, along with the slight sound of pain in Tobin’s voice, springs tears to Christen’s eyes that she tries to shake away. 

“Is the little boy ok?” Anna asks taking a step closer to Tobin and putting a hand on her knee.

“He is,” Tobin nods, “he just misses his mom.”

“Is Tobin sad?” Anna asks and the kindness in her little voice causes tears to well in Tobin’s eyes now as she nods.

“A little, yea,” Tobin admits and is surprised when Anna takes one last step and wraps her little arms around Tobin in a hug. Tobin hesitates a heartbeat before she wraps her arms around the little girl. 

Christen covers her mouth with her hands to keep herself from actually crying at the scene in front of her. 

“Tobin better?” Anna asks after a moment more passes. Tobin nods her head but doesn’t immediately let go either. After another moment though she does and Anna takes a step back.

“Thank you, Anna,” Tobin says with a smile to the child. 

“Do you want to read a story?” Anna asks as Christen lightly lays a hand on Tobin’s shoulder. 

“We usually read a story before bedtime,” Christen explains.

“Sounds like a great idea,” Tobin nods as she stands back up. Christen notices tear marks on Tobin’s cheek and has to remind herself not to reach out and wipe them away, despite how much she wants to in that moment.

“Rough day kid?” Cody Press asks as he walks up to the three of them. Tobin nods and he places a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “You know the deal kid, stay as long as you need,” Cody says as he leans forward and places a kiss on Christen’s cheek, “Good night sweetheart.”

“Night daddy,” Christen says as her father heads off to his room for the night.

Once the older Press disappears Christen turns to Tobin and says, “We should head upstairs. She tends to fall asleep pretty quick during story time.”

Anna pouts a little at that and Tobin can’t help but chuckle and says, “She looks just like you when you pout.”

“I don’t pout,” Christen says, hands on her hips and watches as Anna holds her arms up to Tobin, asking to be picked up, which surprises Christen. 

“Of course not,” Tobin laughs as she reaches down and picks up Anna, setting the girl on her hip like it’s the most natural thing in the world. “Alright kiddo, let’s head upstairs and see what books you have.”

“Second door on the right,” Christen offers as Tobin heads off towards the stairs.

“I figured,” Tobin says turning around to look at her, “Your room’s the first door, no way I’d forget that,” she adds with big smile.

Christen just shakes her head as she watches Tobin disappear up the stairs with Anna, the latter talking excitedly about the books she has in her room. _How does this feel so easy already?_ Christen wonders to herself before she follows the two upstairs.

When she gets to the doorway of her daughter’s room she sees that Tobin is sitting on the floor of the room, legs spread out in front of her and reclining on her arms, while Anna is surveying her bookcase, looking for the right book.

“This one,” Anna says as she pulls a familiar green book from the shelf. Before Christen has the chance to suggest a different book, Tobin reaches out and takes the offered book.

“The Giving Tree,” Tobin reads the title and nods, “I remember this one.”

“Maybe something a little more upbeat,” Christen suggest but Anna had already crawled onto Tobin’s lap.

“This is a good one,” Tobin nods as she moves her legs so that Anna can get more settled. 

Christen nods as she watches Tobin open the book.

“Once there was a tree,” Tobin begins reading. Christen stands in the doorway of the room watching as Tobin reads through the story and smiles when she notices that Anna’s eye had drifted shut and the little girl’s breathing has evened out. 

Tobin doesn’t stop until she reaches the last page, reading, “I don’t need very much now, just a quiet place to sit and rest. I am very tired.”

The words, along with the tiredness in Tobin’s voice pulls at Christen’s heart, but she waits until Tobin finishes, closing the book quietly and laying it on the floor beside her.

“She really doesn’t make it through a book,” Tobin says with a smile, gently laying a hand on the little girl’s back. 

“I can get her,” Christen starts to offer but stops when Tobin waves her off.

“I got this,” Tobin says as she carefully comes to her feet, keeping Anna held against her. The child barely stirs as Tobin stands up.

“You know, it used to be that when you said that,” Christen says, stepping into the room, “It meant the exact opposite.”

Tobin smiles wider at the comment, “Still mostly true.” She hesitates for a moment before turning and gently laying Anna down in her bed, covering her up with the blanket.

“You’re pretty good at this,” Christen offers as she and Tobin step into the hallway, Christen turning off the light as they go and leaving the door cracked opened just a little.

“She’s an incredible kid,” Tobin offers with a shrug.

Christen rolls her eyes at that but smiles, “So, I know you had said about going out for dinner, but I figured you had to be pretty tired still. I’m guessing you haven’t really slept yet.”

“I got about two hours this morning,” is Tobin’s answer.

“That’s what I thought,” Christen smiles, “So, if you don’t mind, I thought we’d stay here. Have a movie night, like old times.”

“Like old times,” Tobin repeats with a nod, her mind going back to that night so long ago now, when she’d come so close to kissing Christen but had been too afraid and had chickened out, “but no rom coms,” she adds with a small smile.

“Seriously?” Christen chuckles as she opens the door to her room. 

Tobin steps inside and feels her jaw drop at what she sees. Christen had somehow managed to hang a sheet from the top of the headboard to the wall behind the TV in her room, affectively creating a covered fort, something they had done on many nights in high school. It looked like something right out of the past and Tobin couldn’t help the laugh that came from her at the sight.

Christen, misunderstanding the laugh, looks down shyly and says, “I thought it would be something fun. I know you’ve had a long couple of days at work.”

“Chris,” Tobin says, taking a step forward and wrapping her arms around the other woman, completely catching her off guard. Tobin lifts Christen off her feet and spins her around once before setting her back down and saying, “This is great.”

“Yea?” Christen asks, still a little surprised by the hug.

“Yes,” Tobin says without a doubt. “I haven’t even thought of something like this in years.”

“I’m glad you like it,” Christen smiles as she closes the door to her room. “Dad suggested we might want to stay in tonight.”

Tobin smiles and nods, “He’s pretty good at knowing how to handle rough days.”

“I gathered that,” Christen says as she sits on the edge of her bed, then asks, “What did he mean when he said you know the drill?”

“I’ve had a few bad cases in the last couple of years,” Tobin admits as she sheds her dress jacket, draping it over the back of a chair. “After one, your dad suggested that it might not be good to be roaming around my apartment alone, so he suggested I come over. We don’t really talk about the cases,” Tobin explains, “it’s more of, just having someone to be around.”

Christen is silent for a moment before she asks, “How bad was it today?”

Tobin looks over at her, nodding her head slightly, “the actual taking down the guy and finding the kid part was pretty good.” Tobin hesitates before she adds, “What really got to me was that the kid, this little four year old kid, kept asking for his mother, crying for her and,” Tobin’s voice catches and she stops, shaking her head.

Without much thought Christen slides off the bed and wraps her arms around Tobin’s neck, Tobin resting her head on Christen’s shoulder, hands loosely on her waist.

“I just kept thinking about you and Anna,” Tobin admits with a sigh, “I don’t know why.”

“I can’t even imagine how hard that has to be,” Christen says softly, carefully combing her fingers through Tobin’s hair, “but Anna and I are fine and we’re right here.”

Tobin lifts her head and looks at Christen, “After I went back to my place this morning, I laid down for a few minutes of sleep.” She shakes her head with the smallest of smiles, “When I woke up, I was convinced it had to have all been a dream. That there was no way you were really back.”

Christen smiles, her hands linked together behind Tobin’s head still, “What made you realize it wasn’t?”

Tobin smiles, “I went to check my notes for the case and when I pulled out my notebook there was a picture from Anna in there, along with a phone number, in your handwriting.”

Christen does her best to keep her smile from growing and fails.

They stay like that a moment longer and Tobin’s eyes slip from Christen’s to her lips and back again. Christen can feel Tobin’s breathing change just slightly and she feels her own breath catch when Tobin wets her lips.

“Chris, I,” Tobin stays to say but stops, shakes her head slightly and finishes, “I think we should watch the movie before it gets too late.”

“Right,” Christen says with a nod as she takes a step back, letting her arms fall to her side. “I pulled up a few movies before you got here, figured we could decide on one once we got settled in.”

“Sounds good,” Tobin smiles, “do you mind if I lose the button down?”

“Um, sure, no problem,” Christen says as she busies herself getting settled on the bed. 

Tobin makes quick work of undoing the buttons on her shirt and tosses in over top her jacket, leaving her in the black tank top she had worn beneath it. When she turns back towards the bed she has to take a moment to get her heartbeat back under control.

“So, what are our options?” Tobin says a moment later as she settles in next to Christen.

“I pulled up a bunch from when we were in high school,” Christen answers with a smile. She’s been trying to avoid looking at Tobin, knowing that the other’s toned arms are now bare.

“Cool,” Tobin says with a smile, “let’s see what we’ve got.”

**

Tobin isn’t sure when she had fallen asleep but the buzzing of her phone jars her awake. Not opening her eyes she reaches out to the bedside table where she always leaves her phone and is surprised to find nothing there. No phone and no table. 

The confusion is enough to make her open her eyes and she realizes that she’s not at home like she had initially thought.

She goes to move and realizes that there’s someone else in the bed with her and she looks to her right, surprised to see Christen, fast asleep, laying tucked against her side. 

The last thing Tobin remembers from the night before was laying in bed with Christen, watching some old movie, and feeling her eyelids grow heavy. _Did I fall asleep here?_ Tobin wonders, the answer to that clearly obvious. 

She can still hearing her phone ringing but can’t see it. 

“Chris,” Tobin says quietly, hoping not to wake her up too much, “where’s my phone?”

“Table,” Christen mutters, barely sounding awake at all, “on the charging pad.”

Tobin looks past Christen to the other side of the bed to where the only bedside table in the room sits. Sure enough she can see her phone sitting next to Christen’s on the charging mat. Careful, trying not to disturb Christen too much, Tobin manages to just reach her phone. Of course, by the time she has it and has settled back onto the bed, it has stopped ringing. 

She recognizes the number though and sighs, _Of course it’s dispatch. Can’t get one whole day off_.

She hesitates slightly before she shoots a text off the Kelley.

**Dispatch just called but I wasn’t fast enough. Have they called you yet? -Tobin**

There’s a small delay before she receives an answer.

**Just got off the phone with them. There’s been a body found that matches pretty close to our last victim. -Kelley**

_Shit_ , Tobin sighs before answering.

**Alright. I have to swing by my place and grab a shower and change of clothes. Send me the address and I’ll meet you there. -Tobin**

**You’re not at home? -Kelley**

**Don’t start. I’ll explain later. -Tobin.**

With that Tobin sets her phone down. Looking down at Christen snuggled up beside her she’s aware of a tight feeling in her chest. Something she hadn’t felt in years. 

“Sorry Chris,” Tobin says, still in a low voice, as she runs her fingers through the dark hair, “looks like I’ve got to go to work.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Speaking from personal experience; life working in emergency services can take its toll somedays. Working cases involving kids are some of the worst days you'll have. I've personally seen people I work go straight home after a bad day and all they want is to hug their kids.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another body is found and the investigation continues. Plus, it's Anna's first day of preschool!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys!!! I know it's been forever since I did an update and I'm sorry. December was a rough month and the new year has kind of started out that way as well. Hopefully there won't be such a big gap between this and the next chapter. You guys are the best for sticking in there with me through all this!!

“Am I the only one getting a weird sense of de ja vu?” Kelley asks as Tobin ducks under the crime scene tape about an hour later. 

“Damn,” Tobin says as she straightens herself and looks down at the body positioned in the center of the alleyway, next to a dumpster. “Just like last time,” Tobin mutters under her breath.

“Late night?” Kelley asks and when Tobin looks up at her she sees her friend wearing a smile.

“Not really,” Tobin says with a quick shake of her head. “Best night’s sleep I’ve had in forever.”

Kelley raises an eyebrow in question but doesn’t say anything else.

“How long has she been here?” Tobin asks the uniform officer standing by Kelley. 

“Dispatch received the call about an hour and a half ago,” the young officer says, looking at his notes, “We arrived about fifteen minutes after that.”

“Fifteen minutes?” Tobin asks, looking back at the officer. “What took you so long?”

“Shift change,” the officer answers, “We hadn’t even gotten the keys to our cruiser yet.”

Tobin just shakes her head and says, “You touch anything?”

“No ma’am,” he answers, “I checked for a pulse and called it in.”

“Alright,” Tobin sighs, “make sure Tony gets impressions of both you and your partner’s shoes before you leave.”

“Will do,” the young officer says as he walks away. 

“He checked for a pulse,” Kelley scoffs a moment later. “Nothing about this scene would make anyone think this girl could possibly have a pulse.”

Tobin doesn’t reply as she studies the scene in front of her. The young woman is laying in the center of the alley, hands crossed across her chest, and dressed in only a bra and panties, exactly like their first victim. 

Just like their first victim, this one’s head was covered by an industrial strength plastic bag, her features distorted by the thick plastic. Something different about this victim though was her hair. The first victim had light brown, bordering on blonde, hair but this victim, her hair was black. Even through the bag Tobin could make out the curls of the dark hair and she felt her throat tighten.

_Christen is fine_ , Tobin has to remind herself, _she’s at home, probably still in bed, right where you left her_.

“Anything useful yet?” Kelley asks Tony, the young man was crouched beside their victim, collecting something off the bag.

“Time of death was about,’ Tony says at length as he looks down at the clipboard sitting on the alley next to his knee, “thirteen hours ago.”

_And you saw Chris barely an hour ago_ , Tobin nods to herself.

“Not killed here,” Tobin says out loud, her voice not betraying her moment of worry. 

“No, definitely not,” Tony agrees with a shake of his head. “Taking a guess, I’d say she’s been here no more than two hours.”

“It’s seven,” Kelley says with a sigh, “So this time he dumped her in the morning. Someone had to see something.”

“How far away is the closest bar?” Tobin asks instead of an answer.

“Not a clue,” Kelley answers looking at Tobin, who looks deep in thought. “What you thinking Tob?”

Tobin looks up from the body, “That I’ve seen this before.”

“I was really hoping that idiot Keith was lying,” Kelley nods then sighs, “guess he was telling the truth though.”

A thought occurs to Tobin and she says, “Tony, we need a rush on the ID for this one and we need to know if she has any kids, and if she does, where they are.”

Tobin watches a dark cloud pass over Kelley’s face before she shakes her head and mutters something Tobin can’t hear.

“You got it,” Tony says with a nod. 

Tobin takes another moment to look around the scene before she tells Tony, “When you get that thing off her head,” Tobin gestures to the bag over the victim’s head, “send me a picture of her.”

“Will do,” Tony says, not looking up from his work.

“Let’s go for a walk,” Tobin says to Kelley with a short nod. 

“A walk?” Kelley asks skeptically as Tobin walks past her, heading towards the end of the alley.

“I’ve got a hunch,” Tobin says as Kelley turns to follow her, “If this is our guy, then I’m willing to bet that there’s a bar close by.”

“You’re thinking we have a serial,” Kelley says as they reach the end of the alley. 

“I’m thinking it’s too early to know that for sure,” Tobin answers, looking from her left to her right, trying to decide on a direction. “This way,” Tobin says, motioning to her left.

They walk a few steps in silence before Kelley says, “So you weren’t at your place this morning.”

Tobin chuckles but answers, “No I was not. I, um, fell asleep over at Cody’s house last night.”

“After dinner?” Kelley chances a guess. 

“Not exactly,” Tobin admits, “Chris and I kind of ended up just staying in last night. Watched a movie and fell asleep.”

Kelley chuckles, “Sounds like high school all over again.”

“Tell me about it,” Tobin agrees with a nod. “It was nice though, after yesterday, it was nice to just be able to go and relax.”

“Crazy how being with the right person can do that for you,” Kelley admits with a thoughtful nod. She looks up and adds, “Guess we found what we were looking for.”

Tobin nods her agreement but then realizes that Kelley means they are now standing in front of a bar, about three blocks from their crime scene.

“Let’s see if this goes any better than the last time,” Tobin says as her phone pings. She pulls it out and sees that she has messages from both Tony and Christen. She swipes open the message from Tony and saves the picture of the victim, leaving the message from Christen unread for the moment. 

**

Christen was sitting at the small bar the sat on the edge of her father’s kitchen. She’d sat here most morning when still in high school, eating breakfast and finishing whatever homework she hadn’t managed to complete the night before. 

She’d always been a good student, taking all advanced classes throughout high school, but there had been the occasional night when homework was forgotten in lieu of spending time with friends. One friend in particular had taken a good bit of her focus from her schoolwork. 

That same friend, if that was even the right word for her now, was who was on Christen’s mind this morning. 

She’d still been awake when Tobin had fallen asleep the previous night, not even half way through the movie, and had considered waking her so she could go home. It had been clear since the moment Tobin had arrived the previous night that she was exhausted, so Christen had decided to let her sleep, putting the detective’s phone on the charging mat and turning the movie off. 

Christen could just barely remember Tobin asking about her phone early this morning but she wasn’t sure at the time if it had been real or if it had simply been part of a dream. The note she had found when she woke up later in an empty bed confirmed that it had in fact been real.

Christen looks down at the note again, now laying on the bar in front of her.

_Sorry to leave so early, got called in early for a case and I didn’t want to wake you. Last night was great and I think I needed it more than I realized. I’d still like to take you out for dinner soon. I don’t know how long I’ll be at work but if you text me, I’ll answer as soon as I can._

_I really missed us like this._   
_Tobin_

A smile spreads across Christen’s face as she reads the words for the tenth time since she’d gotten out of bed an hour ago.

“You seem awful chirpier for this early,” her father says, walking into the kitchen, “I take it that everything went well last night.”

“It was good,” Christen confirms with a nod, “though Tobin fell asleep half way through the movie.”

“She works, a lot,” her father smiles as he pulls a coffee mug from the cabinet and pours himself a cup of coffee. “I didn’t hear her leave last night.”

Christen feels her face flush slightly but answers, “I couldn’t wake her, she looked like she was sleeping so well, so I just let her stay. She left this morning, got called into a case.”

“I’m glad she stayed,” her father says after a pause and takes a sip of his coffee. “I think it was probably good for both of you.”

“Dad, nothing happened,” Christen says with a sigh.

“I’m not saying anything did,” her father offers with a shake of his head, “but I think you two could use more time alone right now.”

“Since when did you start match making?” Christen asks with a smile. 

Cody laughs, placing his coffee mug on the counter, “I haven’t, believe me. I got lucky finding your mother when I did, lord knows I wouldn’t have been able to figure things out without her.”

“Daddy,” Christen says quietly, standing up from the bar and wrapping her arms around her father. 

“My point,” Cody says a moment later when his daughter is at arm’s length, “I know what it looks like when two people are made for each other.”

Christen sighs, her hands dropping to her side, “I don’t know,” she admits shaking her head, “My divorce has been finalized barely a month.”

“Sweetheart,” Cody chuckles, “I’m not saying you two should get married tomorrow. I’m just saying, most people don’t get lucky enough to be given a second chance.”

Before Christen has a chance to say anything else there is a knock at the front door.

“That’s probably Alex,” Christen says with a sigh, “She’s going to go with me to drop Anna off at preschool. She works there so I’m hoping that makes it easier.”

“I’ll go get Anna ready,” her father offers heading upstairs. Any worries that Christen had about how hard living with a toddler would be on her father had long since vanished as the older Press seemed years younger around the child.

“Morning,” Alex says with a bright smile when Christen opens the front door a moment later. 

“You are way too chipper for this early in the morning,” Christen says with a smile. 

“Long night?” Alex asks with a raised eyebrow as she follows Christen inside.

“Not exactly,” Christen says as her father and Anna come downstairs. “There’s my girl. You ready for your first day of preschool?”

“Yes!” Anna says excitedly as she rushes over and takes Christen’s hand. 

“Morning Alex,” Cody says with a smile, “I’m glad you’re taking the girls this morning, might make it easier.”

“Looks like Miss Anna is excited for her first day,” Alex says with a smile at the small girl.

“That she is,” Cody agrees with a nod, “I’m more worried about this one,” he adds as he leans forward and places a kiss on his daughter’s cheek.

“Thanks daddy,” Christen says rolling her eyes as Alex laughs.

A few minutes later they were in Alex’s car, heading towards the preschool.

“So, how was dinner last night?” Alex asks with a grin.

“Why do I tell you these things?” Christen says with a shake of her head.

“Cause I’m your best friend,” Alex answers simply.

Christen sighs but answers, “We didn’t end up doing dinner. She got stuck late at work so she came over and we just watched a movie instead.”

“Sounds nice,” Alex offers with a nod.

“How’s Kelley doing?” Christen asks in way of changing the subject.

“She seemed better this morning,” Alex answers, keeping her eyes on the road, “She’s spent the last two nights at my place, but I’m guessing you already knew that.”

“Tobin mentioned it last night,” Christen confirms with a nod. “I guess the case they’ve been working on was rough.”

“It’s always rough when kids are involved,” Alex agrees.

“Do you get used it to?” Christen asks after a glance into the backseat to check on Anna, who smiles at her mother from her car seat.

“Used to what?” Alex asks as she pulls into the parking lot of the preschool.

“Them coming home and being a mess after a bad case,” Christen explains.

Alex smiles a little and nods, “I don’t know if get used to it is the right way to put it. It’s more like, you learn what they need after bad days. Like sometimes Kelley needs to vent, sometimes she doesn’t want to talk at all. Sometimes she wants to go for a drive out of the city and other times she just wants to sit on my couch and watch a movie.”

Christen nods as they pull into a parking space and Alex parks the car and stays quiet. 

“Listen,” Alex says before they get out of the car, “it’s not always easy, but it’s part of their job, part of their lives now. Plus, it’s not all bad. Most of their cases aren’t nearly this bad and there are way more good days than bad ones.”

“It was just strange, seeing her like that,” Christen admits. “Tobin’s always been the strong one.”

“She still is,” Alex offers unbuckling her seatbelt, “but even strong people need someone to lean on every so often.” They get out of the car and Alex adds, “I’m glad she’s got you back.”

“Me too,” Christen says with a smile as she lifts Anna out of the backseat. Placing Anna on her hip she follows Alex towards the school.

The inside of the school is bright, colorful pictures and drawings line the hallway and Christen can hear the sound of children laughing down the hallway. 

After they finish getting Anna checked in at the front desk they walk down the short hallway to the classroom, Anna becoming shier with each step.

Alex opens the door to the classroom and they step inside. Christen helps Anna take off her coat and hang it in the small cubical with her name above it. 

Christen squats down in front of her daughter and smiles, “Alright sweetheart, you have fun today and mommy will be back to pick you up soon.”

“Is aunt Alex staying?” Anna asks her in a small voice.

“She is,” Christen nods, “and I’ll be back before you know it.”

“Will Tobin come with to pick me up?” Anna asks surprising Christen.

“Um, I don’t know,” Christen admits glancing at Alex quickly, who shrugs, “but I can asks her if she’s not busy. Ok?”

“Ok,” Anna says and she wraps her arms around Christen in a hug. 

“I’ll see you soon baby,” Christen says after the hug. She stands back up and watches as Alex leads Anna over to the group of children sitting on the flor listening to their teacher read.

Christen sighs but quietly makes her way out of the classroom and heads down the hallway. 

“Excuse me, Ms. Press,” Christen hears from behind her and she stops and turns, surprised to see the administration woman who had checked them in walking up to her.

“Yes,” Christen says as the woman stops in front of her.

“Ms. Morgan mentioned this morning that you had just moved back into the area,” the shorter woman says, “and that you were looking for a teaching job.”

“Oh, yes,” Christen says surprised again, “I was, I am.”

“If you have a few minutes, I’d like to talk to you,” the woman smiles, “We have some openings in a number of our classrooms.”

“I have time now,” Christen nods as she puts the key to Alex’s car in her coat pocket.

“Excellent,” the woman says and leads Christen back to the front office, “Have a seat. I just need to get a few things in order and we can talk.”

“Thank you,” Christen says sitting down in one of the chairs by the front desk. She pulls her phone out and quickly types out a text to Tobin.

**I just dropped Anna off for her first day of preschool and now I’m going to talk with someone here about a possible job. I hope everything with your case is going well. Anna asked if you could come with to pick her up from school today, I told her you might have to work but I’d asks you. Don’t feel like you have to.**

**I really had a good time last night, hopefully we can do it again soon. -Christen**

**

“How is it that they always manage to keep us waiting?” Tobin sighs as she sits down in a chair next to Kelley in the waiting area of the Coroner’s Office. She feels her phone buzz in her pocket and pulls it out, figuring she has time now to check her messages.

“Probably because you pissed the ME off last time we were here,” Kelley answers from her spot slumped in her chair.

“I didn’t piss her off,” Tobin says and reads the message from Christen. “I just mentioned that they tend to keep us waiting forever.”

“Hence,” Kelley says gesturing to the empty waiting room. She looks over at Tobin and sees her smile and asks, “How’s Christen doing?”

Tobin levels her with a look and Kelley chuckles and says, “What? I know what that smile means.”

Tobin rolls her eyes but answers, “She’s good. Today is Anna first day of preschool here.”

“Ah, so she’s nervous,” Kelley says nodding her head.

“More than she’s letting on,” Tobin agrees as she starts to type out a response. Before she can type more than a few words the door opens and the medical examiner walks in.

“Detectives,” she says just a hint of surprise in her voice, “I didn’t realize it was you two again.”

“You sound disappointed,” Tobin says coming to her feet, tucking her phone back into her jacket pocket.

“Not at all,” the woman smiles at Tobin, “but you two are becoming frequents here.”

“The fun side of being the young detectives,” Kelley sighs coming to her feet as well. 

“Well, I have to say that this case has several similarities to the last one,” the doctor says as she leads them down the hallway to the examination area. 

“How similar?” Tobin asks walking next to the other woman.

“With the exception of the victim’s physical description, nearly identical,” the doctor answers as they push through the double doors. The doctor steps up to the table covered with a white sheet and pulls it back, revealing their victim’s head and shoulders.

Tobin feels her blood run cold as she looks at the victim, her dark curly hair laying fanned out around her head, much as Christen’s had earlier this morning. Her eyes were closed but the bruising and marks around her neck stood out against her light skin. That was the biggest difference Tobin could see between this woman and Christen, her skin was much lighter than Christen’s.

“Damn,” Kelley says in a low voice, clearly seeing the resemblances as well.

“You two look like you’ve seen a ghost,” the doctor says, looking between the two detectives across the table from her. 

“She looks like a good friend of ours,” Kelley answers, Tobin still not able to form words yet.

“Her prints came back,” the doctor says slowly, looking down at the paper in her hands, “Angela Stanford.” She watches the two detectives for a moment before she adds, “Not your friend?”

“No,” Tobin finally says with a shake of her head. _I already knew that though,_ Tobin thinks to herself but she can’t get the sick feeling out of her stomach that continues to grow with each passing moment. 

“Alright,” the doctor says and continues, “cause of death is strangulation, same manner as the last victim. She was killed some place else and dumped in the alley. I set out blood work to check of anything strange but I haven’t found any marks other than on her neck.”

“Does she have any family?” Tobin asks keeping her voice as steady as possible.

“Yes, family here in town, mother, father and a daughter,” the doctor answers reading off the paperwork again. 

“Kelley,” Tobin says looking at her partner who nods and reaches for her phone. She steps out into the hallway to make a call and Tobin looks back at the doctor who is watching her.

“Our last victim’s son was missing,” Tobin explains, “so we need to make sure her daughter is accounted for.”

“I see,” the doctor says nods. “It’ll take me a little bit longer to finish the autopsy but you’re welcome to stay while I do.” 

“Think you’ll find anything useful?” Tobin asks crossing her arms over her chest, too many thought going through her mind in that moment.

“Hard to tell,” the doctor answers.

Kelley walks back in, putting her phone away as she does, “Daughter is accounted for, she’s at school.”

“Good,” Tobin says, breathing a small sigh of relief, “that’s something good at least. We should go make the notification to her parents though.”

“All good doc?” Kelley asks, looking at the doctor who nods.

“I’ll call if I find anything that might be helpful,” the doctor offers. “Detective Heath,” the doctor asks as Tobin and Kelley head towards the double doors, stopping them in their tracks. “If you’re free later, maybe we can get drinks after work.”

Tobin hears Kelley chuckle slightly from beside her and it takes a moment for Tobin’s mind to let the words sink in. 

She takes a step back towards the doctor and says, “Um, I actually have plans this afternoon. I’m going with my friend to pick her daughter up from daycare then out for dinner, but thanks.”

“Of course,” the doctor says with a small smile.

Tobin turns back towards the doors, pushing through them with Kelley by her side. As they walk down the hallway Tobin glances at Kelley and sees her friend fighting a smile.

“Shut up,” Tobin mutters once she’s sure the doctor can no longer hear them. 

“I didn’t say anything,” Kelley says with a laugh, “but that was great.”

“You’re an ass,” Tobin says but laughs as well as they step outside.

“I told you she was flirting with you the other day,” Kelley adds as they reach Tobin’s car.

“You want to walk back to the station?” Tobin threatens but with a smile. 

Kelley’s phone rings before she can answer.

“Saved by the bell,” Tobin mutters as she unlocks the car and slides into the driver’s seat.

“O’Hara,” Kelley says into the phone as she answers it. “Yea…seriously? Did you find a match?”

Tobin watches Kelley’s face light up then darken in a matter of a few seconds. 

“Alright, thanks,” Kelley says hanging up the phone. She stares down at her phone for a second before she looks over at the waiting Tobin. “That was Tony.”

“What he find?” Tobin asks trying not to lose her patience.

“He lifted a fingerprint from the plastic bag,” Kelley says, her voice strange.

“He got a match?” Tobin asks, turning the car on and buckling her seatbelt. When Kelley just nods she huffs and says, “Come on Kel, what do we have?”

“The prints match Eric’s,” Kelley says and it takes Tobin’s brain a moment to process the name.

“Eric?” she asks shocked, “As in Christen’s ex husband, Eric?”

Kelley nods again. 

“How is that even possible?” Tobin asks as she pulls out of the parking lot and heads for the station, “Isn’t he on the other side of the country?”

“He was,” Kelley agrees, “but apparently he’s here now.” 


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They have a suspect but finding him may not be that easy. Tobin worries about how to tell Christen that her ex-husband is connected to the case.

“Daddy,” Christen calls as she walks through the front door of her father’s house two hours later. When she doesn’t hear a response she says again, “Dad? I’m back.”

“I’m in my office sweetie,” she hears her father’s voice, low and pained and her heart leaps to her throat as she drops her coat and bag by the front door and heads towards the small room off the kitchen that had been converted into his office years ago.

She reaches the doorway to the small office and stops when she sees her father sitting at his desk, which is covered with papers and books, always cluttered but with everything in it’s own place. In his hands he holds a silver picture frame. Christen would recognize it anywhere, it’s the frame she gave them to celebrate their anniversary, the anniversary before her mother had died. 

Before she had given it to them she had placed a picture of the couple from the previous Christmas. It had been one of the best days Christen had in recent memories. Everyone had come over that morning, including Tobin, and they had swapped presents and had a light lunch. 

After lunch Tobin had convinced Christen to make snow angels on the fresh snow that had fallen overnight. To this day she still can’t remember what made her agree to it because she had been convinced she was going to freeze to death that day.

When she had mentioned that to Tobin the other woman had threatened her with a snowball. What Tobin hadn’t anticipated with Cody beating her to the punch and tossing a snowball at his daughter, which landed in the hood of Christen’s coat of all places and had sent icy tendrils down her back. 

She’d yelped and started shivering almost immediately which had caused both her parents to start laughing. It was one of the most natural and wonderful sounds in the world, hearing her parents together so happy. When they hadn’t been paying attention Tobin had whipped out her phone and captured the moment between the two older Press’s. Cody’s arms were around his wife, who leaned into him, smile wide and bright. The love was so clear in both their eyes, Christen had thought it the perfect picture for their anniversary.

“Dad,” Christen says in a low voice, “are you ok?” She watches her father as he nods his head slowly. 

“I was just…” he pauses, wiping at the corner of his eye briefly before placing the picture frame back on his desk. “I was just talking to your mother.”

“Daddy,” Christen says in a low voice, feeling her own pain, she crosses the short room and crouches in front of her father’s chair.

“Oh it’s alright,” her father smiles down at her. “I come in here sometimes, just to talk to her, keep her up to date with everything going on,” he stops and chuckles softly, “Though, I know she’s watching over us.”

Christen manages a small smile and nods, feeling hot tears stinging her eyes.

“I was just telling her how nice it is to have you back,” her father continues, “and that I know she’d be enjoying chasing our granddaughter around the house as much as I am.”

Christen looks away, her eyes catching the picture on the desk, and she feels tear slide down her cheek.

“She’d be very proud of you,” her father adds and a strangled laugh escapes Christen. 

“Daddy,” she starts to say but her voice breaks and she stops. She shakes her head and says, “I don’t see how she can be.”

“Sweetheart,” her father’s voice carries nothing but love and he waits until she meets his eyes again before he continues, “everyone makes mistakes in their lives, what matters, what makes me proud of you, is how you handle them. You’ve shown so much strength, been so strong, even when I couldn’t be.”

“I feel like I’ve let you all down,” Christen shakes her head again. “I don’t know how any of you can still be proud of me… or love me.”

“My sweet girl,” her father smiles, “you know that I love you, unconditionally, and you know I’m not the only one.”

Christen chuckles shortly, wiping at her eyes with her sleeve, “You mean Tobin.”

Her father nods, smiling widely, “I do. That girl has loved you for years.”

“She can’t,” Christen shakes her head again, “if she knew, if she knew everything that happened while I was gone, she couldn’t.”

“She may not have always liked every decision you’ve made,” her father nods once, “but she still loves you.”

“How can you know that?” Christen asks the question, even though she thinks she knows the answer. 

Her father’s smile widens, “Sweetheart, I may be old but I’m not blind.” He leans down and places a kiss on his daughter’s forehead. “She still looks at you like she did in high school. Talk to her,” her father offers, “I know she’ll understand.”

Christen hesitates but pulls her phone out and types out a quick message.

**I know you’re working a case and that you were just here last night, but would it be ok if I came over tonight when you get off work? I want to talk.** -Christen

She pushes send looks back up at her father, “Thanks dad.”

**

Tobin feels her phone vibrate in her pocket but ignores it as she and Kelley reach the lab area of the forensic unit where Tony is waiting for them.

“Like I said on the phone,” he says without looking up from the sample he’s working on, “I don’t have anything other than that partial print.”

“Where’d you lift the print from?” Tobin asks, her voice slightly strained with concern.

“The plastic bag,” Tony says.

Tobin crosses her arms over her chest, “Where on the bag Tony.”

“Dead center,” he says looking up at her, “About where the victim’s mouth was.”

“What the hell?” Kelley says with a confused look. “Not around the bottom? By the neck?”

“Nope,” Tony answers shaking his head. 

“What the hell does that mean?” Kelley ask looking at Tobin.

“That I leave to you,” Tony answers from behind Kelley.

“Could be a lot of things,” Tobin muses with a shake of her head. 

“I’ll get a trace on his phone and credit cards,” Kelley says pulling her phone out. 

Tobin nods but doesn’t say anything, her mind running through different scenarios.

 _I knew something about this case felt wrong_ , Tobin thinks to herself, _and I knew there was some connection._

“I need a trace,” she hears Kelley say. “Can’t wait.”

_Timing makes sense if it’s Eric_ , Tobin continues to think, _Christen and Anna get back a few days before our first victim was murdered. Damn it._

“You got?” Kelley says and Tobin looks at her, “perfect. Send me the address.”

“They found him?” Tobin asks a bit skeptically. 

“Not exactly,” Kelley says as she hangs up. “but they pinged his credit card at a coffee shop across town about an hour ago.”

“Where exactly?” Tobin asks, worry back in her voice.

Kelley looks down at her phone as a message comes through, the address, “300 block of Madison Avenue.”

Tobin feels her blood run cold, “That’s only a few blocks from Cody’s house.”

“Let’s go,” Kelley says, then looks at Tony and says, “The second you find anything, anything, you call me.”

“You got it,” Tony says, looking a bit confused at the detectives as they hurry out of the room. 

“Maybe I should drive,” Kelley offers as they reach the parking lot.

“You’re joking right?” Tobin scoffs. 

“No,” Kelley deadpans as she stops by Tobin’s car. “You’re a little…attached to this case now. It might be better if I drive. Plus,” Kelley continues before Tobin can interrupt her, “if I drive it gives you time to call Chris, let her know we’re coming over.”

“You know I hate it when you do that,” Tobin says with a sigh.

“What?” Kelley asks confused.

“Make sense,” Tobin answers with a small smile.

Kelley smiles widely as Tobin tosses her the keys. They climb inside and Kelley starts the engine as Tobin pulls her phone out. She glances at the message from Christen but instead of answering she dials Christen’s number, putting the phone to her ear.

It rings a few times before Christen answers, “Tobin?” she sounds confused.

“Hey, are you at home?” Tobin asks quickly.

“Um, yea,” Christen answers, “Dad and I were just talking. Is everything alright?”

“Not exactly,” Tobin says, not wanting to worry Christen too much, “Kelley and I are heading over right now.”

“You guys are coming here?” Christen says, worry adding to her confusion.

“Yea, there’s um,” Tobin says looking over at Kelley, “We had a development in the case.”

“That’s good,” Christen says still sounding unsure, “Well, since you two are heading over, maybe you want to do lunch?”

“Sure,” Tobin says, and she hopes her voice doesn’t give away her concern, “We’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.”

“Great,” Christen says and Tobin can hear her smile, “I’ll see you soon then.”

The call ends and Tobin lets her phone fall into her lap with a sigh.

“Everything alright?” Kelley asks after a moment.

“Yea, she sounded fine,” Tobin nods. “and Cody’s there too.”

“What about Anna?” Kelley asks a bit concerned.

“Today is her first day of preschool,” Tobin answers as they take a corner. “I’ll send Alex a text and make sure everything’s been ok there.” Tobin types out a quick message to Alex and before long Kelley is pulling into the driveway at the Press house.

“Hang on a second,” Kelley says as she puts the car in park and Tobin undoes her seatbelt. 

“For what?” Tobin asks surprised.

“You just talked to her and everything’s fine,” Kelley says calmly, “we don’t need to bust in there and freak them out more than they probably already are. We do this calmly ok?”

Tobin wants to argue, she wants to hurry inside and wrap her arms around Chris, to make sure she’s safe and to keep her that way. As much as she hates to admit it though, she knows Kelley is right and with a sigh she says, “Ok.”

They both get out of the car and make their way up the short path t the front door. Kelley following a step behind Tobin, eyes roaming over the yard and street in front of the house. 

Tobin reaches the door and knocks twice.

A few seconds later the door opens to a smiling Christen and Tobin feels herself let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and she takes a step forward, wrapping Christen in a hug. 

If Christen is surprised by this she doesn’t show it, instead wrapping her arms around Tobin and burying her face in the other woman’s shoulder. 

“I’m glad you’re back,” Christen says softly into the embrace and Tobin feels herself smile as she lets go and pulls Christen back to arm’s length. 

“Me too,” Tobin says as they step inside, Kelley taking one last look around before she steps in and closes the door. 

“Hey Kelley,” Christen says giving her friend a hug, which she returns quickly. “I’m glad you guys could stop by for lunch.”

“Have you ever known me to turn down food?” Kelley asks with a grin. 

“Not in more than a decade,” Cody Press says as he greets them in the living room. “Though I am surprised to see you girls in the middle of a work day like this.”

“Right,” Tobin says with a sigh, “we’ve had a development in the case.”

“That’s what you said on the phone,” Christen nods, “Does that mean that you’ve finished already?”

“Not exactly,” Tobin says and jumps when she hears a knock at the door, her left hand coming up to rest lightly on Christen’s arm and her other automatically landing on the gun clipped to her belt. 

“I’ve got it,” Kelley says, her hand also resting on her service piece and takes the few short steps back to the front door.

“Tobin, what’s going on?” Christen asks, shocked by the behavior of the two detectives. While she’s seen Tobin dressed for work before, and she absolutely loved seeing her in suits, she had yet to see her carrying her weapon and it surprised her. 

“Hang on a second,” is Tobin’s answers as she watches Kelley approach the door. She looks through the peep hole and lets her arm fall to her side.

“Looks like a delivery guy,” Kelley says looking back at Tobin with a nod.

“Yea,” Christen says, “I ordered lunch when you called,” Christen looks at Tobin and says, “Are you going to tell me what’s going on now?”

“I’m sorry,” Tobin starts tearing her eyes away from the front door, where Kelley is dealing with the delivery guy and back to Christen, “The development we had was that we found a partial fingerprint on the murder weapon from this morning.”

Christen waits patiently for Tobin to finish, “The print came back as a match to Eric.”

“Eric,” Christen says the name as a sense of fear takes over and she can feel the color drain from her face. “He’s here?” she asks and the confusion that had been in her voice is replaced with a tremor of fear.

“His credit card was used about an hour ago at a coffee shop not far from here,” Tobin says as Cody steps up behind his daughter and lays a comforting hand on her shoulder. Tobin’s eyes meet his for a moment before she adds, “We sent a unit over to the coffee shop to see if he’s still there.”

Christen doesn’t say anything but Tobin can see how scared she is so she continues, “We came straight here when we found out. We’ll find him.”

Christen shakes her head and says, “What about Anna?”

“I already texted Alex and sent a unit over to the school,” Tobin explains. “I figured we’d go pick her up after lunch.”

“If he’s here,” Christen says, voice still sounding strained and a bit distance, “he’ll find us.”

“We’re not going to let that happen,” Tobin assures her but Christen isn’t looking at her. “Chris, sweetheart, look at me.” It was as if hearing Tobin say her voice pulled her out of whatever thoughts she was having and her eyes meet Tobin’s green eyes. 

Tobin reaches out and gently lays her hands on Christen’s elbows, “I’m not going to let him anywhere near you or Anna, I promise.”

Christen doesn’t say anything but Tobin does feel her relax just slightly under her touch. Without a word, Christen steps forward and wraps her arms around Tobin’s waist. Tobin doesn’t hesitate in returning the embrace, pulling Christen tight against her. 

“I’ve got you Chris,” Tobin says in a whisper as she places a kiss on the top of Christen’s head. They stay like that for a few moments, while Cody and Kelley sort out lunch in the kitchen, and Tobin can feel Christen’s breathing start to even out. 

While Tobin had never liked Eric, there was always something about him she didn’t trust, she found herself wondering what exactly had happened out in California to make Christen respond like this to the news that Eric was so close. She’d certainly had her fears over the years but nothing that she had been able to confirm and now, standing here with Christen in her arms, she was afraid to find out. 

“Thank you,” Christen says after some time has passed, her voice muffled by Tobin’s shirt, which Tobin realizes now is wet from tears and she slowly rubs her hands up and down Christen’s back. “I just,” Christen starts to say but stops and Tobin can feel her shake her head. 

“It’s alright Chris,” Tobin says in a soothing voice, “you don’t have to explain anything to me. I’m here.”

She feel Christen nod and lean into her more for a moment before she steps back, wiping at her face as she does. 

“I want to go get Anna,” Christen says, her voice still a little shaky.

“Ok,” Tobin nods, “I’ll go with you.”

“What about dad?” Christen asks, glancing towards the kitchen where she can hear her father and Kelley talking. 

“Kelley can stay here with him until we get back,” Tobin assures her. 

Christen nods, “Ok. I just need a minute first.”

“I’ll be right here,” Tobin promises her and Christen gives her a weak smile before she turns and heads upstairs. 

“Everything alright?” Kelley asks from behind Tobin.

“Yea,” Tobin nods, “at least, I think so. We’re going to get pick Anna up now. Can you stay with Cody until we get back?”

“Sure,” Kelley nods. “I’ll fill him in a little too. You just be careful, the unit we sent to the coffee shop didn’t find Eric.”

“I will,” Tobin says with a sigh. “If we can’t find him today, we might need to figure someplace else out for them to stay.”

Kelley snort a laugh and says, “Not place, it’s barely big enough for me most days.”

“Maybe mine then,” Tobin nods, “I knew there was a reason I went for the bigger apartment instead of a studio again.”

Kelley chuckles again as Christen comes back downstairs.

“Everything ok?” Christen asks, looking between the two detectives again.

“Just discussing options for a place for you all to stay tonight,” Kelley shrugs, “just in case.”

“You think we might need to stay someplace else?” Christen asks looking at Tobin. 

“If we can’t find him before tonight,” Tobin answers honestly, “it might not be a bad idea.”

“Where would we go?” Christen asks.

“My place is pretty big,” Tobin offers. “Three bedrooms, though I’ve been using the one as an office. We can figure that all out after we get Anna.”

“Ok,” Christen nods and for a moment Tobin is worried she might zone out again but she seems to focus again, “let’s go get my daughter.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter there is the mention of possible abuse and we do talk about the murder victim some so there's that.

“Everything alright?” Cody asks as Kelley walks back into the kitchen.   


“Tobin is going to take Chris to pick up Anna,” Kelley answers with a smile. Her mind was working a mile a minute as she tried to put all the pieces into place in her brain and start working on their next steps. “We were also discussing where you guys should stay tonight.”

“We can’t stay here?” Cody asks leaning against the counter.

“If we don’t find Eric today,” Kelley shrugs, “might not be smart. He could show up here.”

“You think he’s that brave?” Cody asks, lifting an eyebrow in question and Kelley can’t help but chuckle imagining Eric running into Mr. Press.

“Brave, no,” Kelley answers with a sly smile then turns serious, “but crazy, yes. If he’s the one doing this that means he’s killed two women in the past few days.” She hesitates before she adds the next bit, “and the last one looked a lot like Christen.”

That news brings a look to the eldest Press’s face like Kelley had never seen before from the man, he looked down right pissed. 

“Where else can Christen stay tonight?” Cody asks, his voice sounding tight now.

“Tobin’s got a big enough place, you guys should be comfortable enough there,” Kelley offers.

“Not me,” Cody shakes his head, “I’m not letting that bastard scare me out of my own house.”

“I get that,” Kelley says, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the bar opposite Cody, “but if he shows up here, there’s no telling what he’ll do, especially if Christen isn’t here. It’s just not safe.”

“I won’t let him disrupt our lives more than he already has,” Cody answers, “I think it’s a good idea if Christen and Anna go to Tobin’s for tonight, but I’m staying here.”

“How did I know you guys weren’t going to make this easy?” Kelley asks with another smile.

Cody cracks a smile, “I can’t let my daughter be the only stubborn one now can I?”

“Those Press genes,” Kelley chuckles then sighs heavily, “Alright, if I can’t convince you to leave, maybe we can come to some kind of compromise.”

Cody lifts an eyebrow but says, “I’m listening.”

**

They’d traveled most of the way to the preschool in silence, Tobin behind the wheel of her car and Christen in the passenger seat. She had been staring out the window the entire drive, not willing or able to look at Tobin. 

“Anna’s going to be fine,” Tobin finally says, when she can’t take the quiet any longer. “We’ll pick her up, you guys can all spend the night at my place and everything will be alright.”

“You don’t know that,” Christen says in a small voice. 

“There’s already a unit at the school and they said that everything’s clear,” Tobin assures her, “Plus I let Alex know and you know she’ll protect Anna no matter what.”

“You don’t understand,” Christen says with a shake of her head and she can feel tears burn in her eyes, “You don’t know what he’s like, what he can do.”

Tobin considered pointing out that she was the detective working the murder cases involving her ex-husband and had seen what he had done to those women, but decided against it. 

“You’re right,” she says instead, “I don’t, but I do know what I can do and I’m not letting him hurt you or Anna, ever.”

Christen doesn’t answer, just continues to watch out the window. 

Tobin reaches over, resting her hand on Christen’s arm, but she pulls it away.

“I’m sorry,” Christen starts to say but Tobin shakes her head, withdrawing her hand.

“It’s alright Chris, you don’t need to be sorry for anything,” Tobin says calmly.

“It’s just,” Christen starts to say but stops, feeling her voice tighten. 

“You don’t have to tell me anything Chris,” Tobin says, “I’m here no matter what.”

At Tobin’s words Christen feels a tear slid down her cheek and instead of answering she reaches over and takes Tobin’s hands, lacing their fingers together. Tobin gives a reassuring squeeze before pulling her hand back to the wheel and making the final turn into the preschool parking lot. 

Before the car is even parked correctly Christen had her seatbelt off and is part way out of the car. Tobin hurries to catch up with her before she makes it more than a few steps.

“Chris, wait,” she says, reaching out and taking Christen by the wrist.

Christen rips her hand away without thinking and when she turns her head to look at Tobin her eyes are a mixture of regret and fear. 

“I know you want to get to Anna,” Tobin says softly, “but if we go rushing in there all upset it’s just going to freak Anna out.”

Christen takes a deep breath, letting it out in a huff before she nods and says, “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry, love,” Tobin says without thinking and she’s surprised when Christen seems to relax just a little. 

“You’re right,” Christen says nodding her head. “I just, can’t think right when he’s around.”

“That’s alright,” Tobin offers with a small smile, “that’s what you’ve got me for now.”

Despite herself Christen returns the smile and nods again. With that they get out of the car and head towards the front door of the school. 

Tobin’s eyes scan the area, catching the police cruiser sitting on the end of the parking lot, not obvious but still there. As they reach the front door Tobin catches movement out of the corner of her eyes and turns her head in time to see Eric walk around the corner. 

“Chris, get inside,” Tobin says, placing her hand on the small of Christen’s back and directing her towards the door. Christen’s eyes follow Tobin’s and she freezes when her eyes land on her ex.

“Tobin,” Christen says in a tiny voice full of fear. 

“Chris, go,” Tobin says as she turns and heads towards Eric, her hand landing on the butt of her service pistol. “Eric, freeze and put your hands up,” Tobin says in a strong voice. 

Eric does freeze at hearing his name but when his eyes land on Tobin his expression darkens. He turns and starts to run, obviously he hadn’t seen the police cruiser because he heads straight towards them. 

Luckily for her Tobin had been smart enough to make sure she had kept her radio with her and, as she sprints after Eric, she pulls it out and says into it, “Detective Heath, in foot pursuit of suspect heading north in the parking lot.”

This gets the attention of the uniformed officers in the cruiser because they both come flying out of the cruiser. Eric sees them and skids to a halt quicker than Tobin would have thought possible and causing her to collide with him, knocking them both to the ground. Tobin feels her pant rip at her left knee, which is followed by a burning sensation. 

“Damn it,” she mumbles as she tries to steady herself, Eric not making it easy as he fights to get away from not just her but from the two uniformed officers as well. 

“I didn’t do anything,” Eric insists as he is hauled to his feet by the officers, “I just came here to see my daughter.”

“Not a chance,” Tobin says standing up, brushing off her pant legs as she does, “You’re coming in for questioning on two murders.”

“Murders?” Eric asks with a scoff, “What murders?”

“Like you don’t know,” Tobin says as the officers put the handcuffs on him.

“You did this,” Eric starts to say to her as the one officer opens the back door of the cruiser, “You’re trying to take my family away from me.”

“You did that yourself,” is Tobin’s response and anything Eric might have said is cut off as he is stuffed into the back seat and the door is closed.

“You ok detective?” the young officer asks looking down at the small amount of blood now on the knee of Tobin’s pants.

“Yea, just a skinned knee,” Tobin says glancing down, “I got worse Saturday on the pitch.”

“Looks like we’ve got a crowd,” the other officer says, pointing over Tobin’s shoulder towards the school. 

Tobin turns around and sees that a small crowd has poured out of the school and has watched probably at least part of the take down. Christen stands near the front of the crowd, Anna standing next to her, holding her mother’s hand, both with looks of concern on their faces.

“Great,” Tobin mumbles over her breath as she shakes her head, “Take him in and stuff him in a holding cell until we get there,” Tobin tells the officer. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“You got it,” the officer says and Tobin is glad that they don’t try to argue over who gets the collar. At this point she just wants to get to Christen and Anna and make sure they’re alright.

With a nod to the officers Tobin heads back over to the front of the school and the growing crowd. 

“Is everything alright?” an older woman asks as she steps up to Tobin.

“It is ma’am,” Tobin answers with a nod, “The suspect is in custody now so everything’s fine. I’m sorry for disrupting your afternoon.”

“Not at all,” the woman, Tobin believes is the principal, smiles. 

As she ushers the others back inside Tobin makes her way to Christen and Anna, who Tobin has noticed looks close to ears.

“Are you alright?” Tobin asks, stopping in front of Christen, who nods a bit numbly. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

“Tobin,” Anna’s little voice comes from beside Christen and Tobin squats down in front of her, “Are you hurt?” Anna asks pointing to the hole in her pants and the small amount of blood visible through it.

“I just got a little scratch when I feel down,” Tobin answers, hoping her voice sounds reassuring to the girl.

“You’re hurt?” Christen says in a weak voice and Tobin comes to her full height.

“I skinned my knee,” Tobin answers, “I’m fine. Are you ok?”

Again Christen nods but Tobin doesn’t fully believe her, she’d never seen Christen freeze up like this. Maybe when her mother had died but that had been completely different and it bothered the hell out of Tobin to not know why.

“Can you watch Anna for a minute?” Christen asks Tobin, “I need to get her car seat from inside.”

“Sure,” Tobin nods.

Christen hesitates before she turns around and heads into the school. Tobin, deciding that these pants are destroyed anyway, sits on the ground next to Anna. They’re on the sidewalk leading to the main door of the school but far enough out of the way to not block anyone that tries to get past them.

There’s silence a moment before Anna walks over and sits on Tobin’s lap, surprising the detective.

“Is daddy going to be mad again?” Anna asks, her voice sounding the smallest Tobin had ever heard.

“Why do you think he’s going to be mad?” Tobin ask, looking down at Anna.

“He gets mad a lot,” she answers as she starts to lean into Tobin, “then he yells at mommy. They fight when he gets home.”

Tobin had taken a guess that things had been bad while Christen had been gone, she’d always hoped she was wrong though.

“I don’t want him to hurt mommy again,” Anna says in a near whisper and Tobin feels her heartbreak at the words. She wraps her arms around Anna protectively and the girl leans into her more. 

“Don’t worry kiddo,” Tobin says, trying to keep her voice even, “I’m not going to let anyone hurt your mommy.”

**

“I can’t believe he was actually dumb enough to try and go to Anna’s school,” Kelley says as she watches Eric through the one way mirror in the interrogation room. He’d asked for a lawyer before he had even arrived at the station and now a man in an expensive looking three piece suit sat beside him.

“Never accused him of being smart,” Tobin mutters from beside her.

“Fair,” Kelley acknowledges with a nod, “but crazy timing, him showing up at the school the same time you and Chris got there.”

“I’m not so sure it was a coincidence,” Tobin admits with a sigh, crossing her arms over her chest as she watches Eric. 

“What do you mean?” Kelley asks looking at Tobin.

“I don’t know,” Tobin admits with a shake of her head, “I thought that when we caught him I’d feel better, but I don’t.” She sighs, letting her hands fall back to her sides, “Something just feels wrong.”

“Well, let’s go see what he has to say,” Kelley says a bit unsure.

Tobin doesn’t answer but nods and follows Kelley from the observation room. 

A few seconds later they walk into the interrogation room, both Eric and his lawyer stop talking instantly.

Kelley takes the chair opposite them at the table, laying a manila folder down on the table as she does, Tobin taking up her spot in the corner. This time though there is no relaxed, uninterested look to her, her shoulders are tense and her jaw set tight. Even Kelley, who could normally help trample down Tobin’s temper, was worried and had at first suggested that Tobin not come in for the interview.

“So, Eric, you don’t mind if I call you Eric do you?” Kelley says in way of starting the conversation.

“My client doesn’t have anything to say,” the attorney speaks up instantly, “and I demand that he be released. He’s done nothing wrong and was assaulted by your partner,” the attorney adds shooting a glare at Tobin, who doesn’t move a muscle at the words. 

“Hasn’t done anything wrong?” Kelley repeats with a nod as she flips open the folder, pulling out a picture that rest on the top. It’s of their victim from that morning, heavy plastic bag still over her face and eyes open, cloudy but still visible and slides it across the table so that it sits in front of Eric.

“What is this?” his attorney asks, looking from the picture to Kelley. Eric meanwhile, hasn’t taken his eyes off of Kelley. 

“We found your client’s finger print on this plastic bag, which was used to kill our victim, Angela Stanford,” Kelley continues, her eyes shifting to Eric’s to see if he reacts at all to the name, which he doesn’t.

“So my client touched a plastic bag,” the attorney scoffs, “so do thousands of people a day.”

“True,” Kelley nods, “but this isn’t just any plastic bag. It’s industrial strength. As in, not something you just pick up at the supermarket. This type of plastic is damn tough to rip, in fact it’s used a lot in the glass manufacturing business. You see, even glass has a rough time tearing this stuff.”

“I’m assuming you have a point to this,” the attorney drawls, pushing the picture back towards Kelley.

“My point, is that his fingerprint didn’t just happen to get on there by accident,” Kelley finishes, watching as the attorney picks up a piece of paper that had been sitting on the table in front of him.

“This says you only found a partial print in the middle of the bag,” he states, attorneys are given copies of the evidence when they arrive to be with their clients. “A partial print isn’t a case and my client has a perfectly good reason why his print would end up on something like that.”

“This I can’t wait to hear,” Kelley says, sitting back in her chair and folding her arms over her chest. 

“Five days ago my client moved here from the west coast and took a job working as the office manager at the glad factory down on Lincoln Ave,” the attorney answers with a smug smile, “Part of his job duties include helping with loading and unloading of some of the materials, this includes things wrapped in heavy plastic. His print must have gotten on it then.”

“Bullshit,” Tobin speaks up unexpectedly from her spot in the corner.

“I’d be careful detective,” the attorney says, sending another glare in her direction, “I could have assault charges brought against you for what you did to my client.”

“I apprehended your client, after he decided to run,” Tobin says back, “he’s the one that caused us both to fall.”

“Detective, let’s not shall we?” the attorney smiles, “I have it on good authority that you have been spending large amounts of time with my client’s wife and daughter, I’d hate to have to call your Captain and discuss their involvement.”

“Keep them out of this,” Tobin says, her voice still mostly level but Kelley can hear just the faintest of tremors. 

“I’m afraid they’re already involved,” the attorney continues, “They’re why my client is here in the first place.”

Tobin feels her blood run cold for the second time that day at the attorney’s words and with a grin Eric turns to her and says, “I’m here to get my family back.”

“You’re not going anywhere near them,” Tobin says through gritted teeth, “You’re going to jail.”

“Actually he’s not,” the attorney speaks up, “a partial fingerprint on a bag its supposed to be on isn’t enough for you to hold my client any longer than you already have and if you continue to harass my client I will go to your Captain and have you suspended.” Both Eric and his attorney come to their feet.

As they step towards the door Tobin takes a large step forward, luckily Kelley was anticipating that and was already coming to her feet, placing a hand on Tobin’s arm she stops her before she can reach Eric. 

Tobin whips her head around, glaring at her friend who simply shakes her head.

Tobin looks back in time to see Eric walking out of the interrogation room and yanks her arm free from Kelley’s grasp.

“Damn it,” she mutters walking to the door and shoving it closed again. “I knew something was off. He did this on purpose.”

“Did what?” Kelley asks as Tobin paces in front of her.

“He knew, somehow he knew when Chris and I were going to Anna’s school and he went there, knowing damn well I’d chase him down,” Tobin fumes, “He wanted me to bring him in because he already had answers. He knew damn well he’d walk out of here tonight.”

“Alright,” Kelley says and the seriousness in her voice catches Tobin’s attention and she looks at her friend. “You need to leave,” when Tobin gives her a questioning look she adds, “He’s on the street, which means you need to get over to Chris and Anna. I’ll finish up everything here and meet you there in an hour or so.”

There a pause then a look of almost horror comes to Tobin’s face when she realizes that she’d been so focused on Eric that her first thought hadn’t been getting over to the house.

“It’s ok,” Kelley assures her then adds with a chuckle, “It’s almost kind of nice getting to see that cool exterior get pissed off.”

At that Tobin smiles and shakes her head, “Call me when you’re on your way over.”

“I’ll be there soon,” Kelley tells her as Tobin heads out of the room. With a sigh she leans against the wall opposite the small table in the room. She didn’t know exactly what Eric was up to but deep in her gut she knew he had done it and she was resolved to make sure nothing ever happened to her family again. 


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chris and Anna spend the night at Tobin’s place and Cody and Kelley reach an agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will put a warning in here, there is a mention and some details of past abuse in this chapter so be warned of that.

It had taken Kelley longer then she had thought to finish up at the station so it was almost two hours later when she and Alex pulled into the driveway at the Press house, parking behind Tobin’s car.

“Thanks for the ride Alex,” Kelley says as she unbuckles her seatbelt.

“Anytime,” Alex answer shutting the car off, making Kelley pause with her hand half way to the door handle.

“What are you doing?” Kelley asks, her voice laced with both worry and concern.

“You didn’t really think I was going to let you stay here by yourself did you?” Alex quirks an eyebrow at her, “When you called I packed a bag for me before I went over to your apartment.”

“Alex, no,” Kelley says shaking her head, “Eric’s been manipulating this thing from the beginning. I have no idea what he’s likely to do at this point.”

“Exactly,” Alex replies with a shrug.

“Alex,” Kelley says with a sigh, “it’s bad enough I have Cody I have to worry about, I can’t do this if I’m worrying about you too.”

“You’re not going to have to worry,” Alex answers with a smile, “because I’m going to be right beside you all night.”

Kelley huffs out a laugh but smiles despite herself, “Why do I even bother trying to argue with you anymore?”

“I’ve been asking the same question for years,” Alex chuckles as she opens her door and slide out. “I would have thought by now you’d have learned,” she adds, throwing a smile at Kelley as she opens the back door of the car and pulls out both of their bags.

“I am a slow learner,” Kelley mumbles mostly to herself as she closes the back door of the car and they head to the front door. Kelley isn’t surprised when she sees Cody standing there waiting for them.

“I heard a car pull in and thought I’d come see if you needed any help,” he says with a smile as he wraps Alex in a hug.

“Why do you think I always travel with Kelley?” Alex asks with a chuckle, “She’s a great pack mule.”

“Hopefully she doesn’t kick as much as a mule,” Cody chuckles releasing Alex and smiling at Kelley.

“Only when I’m really grouchy,” Kelley answers with a nod and smile.

“So daily,” Alex laughs as they all step inside and Cody closes the door. Kelley notices he locks it as well, something he doesn’t typically do during the day time.

The Press house had always been an open and welcoming place and was usually the place all the kids hung out at in the afternoon after school. Kelley could only think of a few times in her life that she had seen that front door locked.

_At least he’s taking this seriously,_ Kelley thinks to herself with a small sigh then says, “Where’s my partner at?”

“Upstairs,” Cody says gesturing with his head towards the stairs, “she’s helping Christen and Anna pack.”

“I’m glad Chris didn’t argue about this,” Kelley says and gives Cody a look, “unlike some.”

Cody smirks but says, “My daughter won’t argue when it comes to staying away from him.” The way Cody says him, with the closest thing Kelley had ever heard to venom in his voice, gives her a sinking feeling in her stomach.

“Cody,” Kelley says seriously but she hesitates, glancing towards the stairs before she asks, “How bad was it?”

Kelley hadn’t thought it possible for the older man’s face to grow more serious but she watches as the usually friendly face darken. He doesn’t answer and Kelley looks over at Alex, who she’s surprised to see also looks like she knows more than Kelley about what happened to her friend while she was away.

“Son of a bitch,” Kelley mumbles angrily, “I knew it,” she continues, her voice low but dripping with anger, “I knew I should have just gone the fuck out there and brought her home.”

“Language Kelley,” Alex warns quietly as she watches Kelley pace. Alex hadn’t liked keeping things from Kelley in the six years Christen had been gone, though she hadn’t learned exactly how bad things had been until more recently.

To her credit, Kelley winces and looks towards the stairs, she can hear the quiet voices of Christen and Anna, along with Tobin coming from the Christen’s room.

“Sorry,” Kelley says, looking back at Alex and Cody once she’s sure the three upstairs hadn’t heard her. “I just, I don’t know.”

“It’s alright,” Cody assures her, “I know that if you had known, well, we can’t change what happened. We can just do our best to make things better moving forward. We can help them now.”

“You’re right,” Kelley says with a huff, “I know, you’re right. So, we’ll get Chris and Anna set up at Tobin’s and then,” Kelley starts but is stopped by Christen’s voice coming from the top of the stairs.

“What about dad?” Christen asks, despite her still standing several feet away, her voice carries her concern.

“I’m staying here,” her father answers firmly, stepping past Kelley and Alex.

“You can’t,” Christen says as she heads down the stairs in a rush, Tobin emerging from Christen’s room carrying Anna, two bags slung over her shoulders.

“I’ll be fine,” he tries to assure her as she reaches him at the bottom of the stairs.

“Daddy, you can’t,” Christen shakes her head, tears stinging her eyes, “I don’t know if he’ll show up here or if he’ll….” Christen stops as her voice catches.

“Don’t worry,” Kelley offers with a small smile, “He’s not going to be alone.”

Christen looks past her father to where Kelley and Alex stand together and sees the bags on the floor behind them.

“No,” she says firmly, shaking her head again, “I don’t want any of you getting hurt. I can’t…”

“Nobody’s going to get hurt,” Tobin says with a strong voice as she and Anna reach the bottom of the steps as well. Tobin sets Anna down and the girl walks over to her grandfather, Tobin sets the bags down and steps over to Christen, carefully taking Christen’s hands.

“You and Anna are staying at my place tonight,” Tobin says, glancing over at Kelley she adds, “and Kelley and Alex are staying here with your dad. Plus I have a security detail in place for here and my place, they’ll be there around the clock until we figure this out. Nothing is going to happen, I promise.”

Christen hesitates but when her eyes meet Tobin’s she nods slightly, giving Tobin’s hands a small squeeze.

“Ok,” Tobin says with a nod of her own, “then let’s finish getting you two packed and head out.”

**

An hour later, after Christen had tried a few more times to convince her father to go with them and worrying over Kelley and Alex staying behind, Tobin opens the door to her apartment.

“It’s nothing special,” Tobin says as Christen and Anna walk in behind her and she closes the door, “but it’s home.”

Christen doesn’t say anything, Anna’s hand in her mother’s as they walk in to the small living room. Tobin had a small couch set up in front of the TV, but the majority of the living area held Tobin’s soccer supplies. She had a few small cones set up leading to the hallway and two soccer balls sat on the floor next to the cones.

“With the exception of Kelley, I don’t have many visitors,” Tobin says, Anna’s bag still on her shoulder.

“Do you play soccer here?” Anna asks as her eyes land on the soccer balls.

Tobin smiles and answers, “I practice here, sometime.”

“Can we practice?” Anna asks looking from her mother to Tobin.

Tobin looks at Christen, who manages the smallest of nods and says, “Sure, but after we get you two settled in. I can show you the guest room if you’d like,” this she address to Christen. 

“That’d be great,” Christen nods and Tobin knows how worried she is.

“No problem,” Tobin says offering a smile as she leads the way up the small staircase to where the guest bedroom is. She opens the door to the room and walks inside, setting down Anna’s bag next to the bed.

The room was on modest size, a full size bed sits in the middle of the room, flanked on either side by bed side tables and a dress sits along the far wall.

“It’s not very big,” Tobin offers with a shrug.

“It’s great,” Christen says, trying for another smile.

“Ok,” Tobin nods, “I’ll let you get settled in. I’ll just be downstairs if you need anything.”

With that Tobin leaves the room, heading downstairs and in to the kitchen. She opens a cabinet and pulls out a glass, filling it with water, she takes a big gulp.

_What the hell am I going to do now?_ Tobin thinks to herself frustrated. She’s torn between wanting to get back to work, find some way to connect Eric to the murders she knows he’s done and staying here, making sure that Christen and Anna are safe. This isn’t the first time her head and heart had pulled her in two different directions.

_“Shouldn’t you be inside?” Ali’s voice says from behind Tobin. She’d been standing outside, leaning against the railing that ran the length of the balcony of the if the reception hall that had been rented out. Ali and Ashlyn had helped to plan the bridal shower for Christen and had chosen the space because they knew it was both big enough to hold everyone but still small enough to make the event feel intimate._

_“Bridal showers really aren’t my thing,” Tobin says without turning around to look at her friend._

_Ali chuckles as she leans against the railing next to Tobin, “I can see that.”_

_“You and Ash did a great job with the whole thing,” Tobin offers._

_“We wanted to make it something special for Christen,” Ali nods. She hesitates before she adds, “Tobin, you really should talk to Christen.”_

_“What are you talking about?” Tobin asks, looking at Ali confused. “I was just talking to her a few minutes ago.”_

_“You need to talk to her about the wedding,” Ali answers and when Tobin shakes her head she adds, “She deserves to know Tobin.”_

_“Know what?” Tobin says looking away again._

_“That you’re in love with her,” Ali answers matter of factly and when Tobin looks startled she continues, “I’m not blind Tobin, I can see it every time your look at her.”_

_“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tobin says with a short shake of her head. “Nobody else seems to see anything.”_

_Ali smiles and nods again, “Yea, well, I love Ashlyn but she can be a bit thick at times and Kelley, well she’s lost in her own head most days. I know what love looks like though and you’ve been in love with Christen for years.”_

_Tobin shakes her head again, “It doesn’t matter. I need to let her be happy and that’s not with me.”_

_“Is that your heart telling you that or your head?” Ali asks._

“Everything alright?” Christen asks, pulling Tobin from her memory.

“Yea,” Tobin offers a nod, “Is the room going to be alright?”

“It’ll be great,” Christen nods, “Anna and I have plenty of room.”

“Good,” Tobin smiles, “Hopefully everything gets resolved and we can get you back to your dad’s soon.”

“Hopefully,” Christen repeats in a quiet voice.

“Well, hey, let’s see what we can come up with for dinner,” Tobin offers placing her glass down on the counter.

A few hours later Tobin was sitting on the couch in her small living room. After they had eaten dinner her and Anna had spent some time playing soccer, Tobin teaching Anna some basics while Christen had watched from the couch with a smile. It was the closest Tobin had seen to a real smile on the other woman’s face since that day had started.

Anna had shown a real knack for the game, which didn’t surprise Tobin at all considering Christen was a natural. The little one had insisted on playing until she was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open.

“She’s going to sleep hard for hours,” Christen says as she walks into the living room. She hesitates before she sits on the opposite end of the small couch as Tobin.

“She’s a natural,” Tobin smiles, “Gets it from her mother. You should see about getting back on the team sometime, we could use another good forward.”

“I haven’t played in years,” Christen sighs, “doubt I’d still be any good.”

“No likely,” Tobin disagrees, “I always thought it had to be in your blood, you were always so damn good.”

“It’s been a long time,” Christen shakes her head.

“It had been,” Tobin agrees, “but the Chris I know, she’d never forget how to play.”

“What if I’m not?” Christen asks, her voice growing thick and when Tobin gives her a curious look she asks, “What if I’m not the Chris you knew?”

Tobin thinks a moment before she says, “I know that six years is a long time and a lot can change,” she looks at Christen then says, “but I know my Chris is still here.”

Christen shakes her head, “There are things, things that happened, that I just, I don’t know how to tell you.”

“It’s ok,” Tobin offers turning to face her, “you don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t wasn’t to, if you can’t. I’m here no matter what.”

Christen sighs and quickly comes to her feet again, surprising Tobin, and she starts to pace. Tobin knows that the day has been hard on her and that Christen has to be beyond stressed at this point, worrying for both her daughter and her father.

“Chris, whatever it is,” Tobin says, her voice calm as she watches Christen pace, “it’s not going to change anything, not with me.”

“You might change your mind when you find out,” Christen replies, her voice still thick with emotions, “I changed my mind about myself after.”

“Ok,” Tobin offers slowly, “but let’s talk it all out before we start making decisions about you and me.”

Christen agrees with a nod but the pacing continues until Tobin carefully comes to her feet in front of the other woman and smiling slightly, “Chris, I don’t know what happened but I do know that nothing is going to change how I feel about you.” Tobin slowly reaches out and takes Christen’s hands in her own, giving them a reassuring squeeze.

Christen nods again, looking down at the floor, and sighing heavily. She feels like she’s being

pulled in so many directions in that moment; fear, anger, embarrassment and shame all making her doubt herself even more in that moment.

The feeling of Tobin’s hands holding her make Christen feel grounded, safe, giving her enough courage to say what she knows she needs to.

“Right after I started my first semester of school out in California,” Christen starts in a small voice, “Maybe two weeks after we got there, I came home form classes and Eric was already home. I think he had a bad day at work or something, I’m still not sure, but he was just so angry and he had been drinking. I’d never seen him like that before.”

Christen pauses, eyes locked on her sneakers as she takes a step back from Tobin, her hands falling to her side, “That was the first time he hit me,” Christen says in a small voice, “I upset him because I asked what had happened and he didn’t want to talk about it. It wasn’t bad, just a black eye that time.”

Tobin stays quiet, not trusting her voice in that moment as her anger at the man she had already loathed grew.

“After that I did whatever I could to just try and avoid him on bad days,” Christen continues as she wraps her arms around herself, “but it didn’t seem to matter. I was the only one there when he came home.

“Chris,” Tobin manages to whisper but Christen shakes her head, knowing that now that she’s finally started she needs to get it all out.

“I didn’t have any friends to there,” Christen shrugs, “He made sure that I didn’t make any and he listened to every call I made. He convinced me that I did everyone back home a favor by leaving, that I was the reason so many bad things happened.” Christen finally looks up again, meeting Tobin’s eyes, tears in her own, “He made me believe that you were all better off without me, that you were happier.”

Before the words were out of Christen’s mouth Tobin was shaking her head.

“I felt alone, and lost and scared,” Christen admits, “I hated the idea of being anywhere near him so I started sleeping in the spare room.” Christen shakes her head and a tear slides down her cheek, “It didn’t matter though. I’d wake up and he’d be there, on top of me.” Christen stops as her voice breaks, she brings up a hand to cover her mouth.

“Chris,” Tobin says again and takes a small step forward, putting her back into touching distance but she holds back.

“It was two years before I could work up the courage to leave,” Christen continues, “but he found out, he always found out, and he told me that if I ever left, he’d find me. That it wouldn’t matter where I went or how I tried to hide, he’d find me. I was trapped. I knew he’d never let me go.”

“It was a few weeks later when I found out I was pregnant,” Christen says with a heavy sigh, “I knew I had no where to go so I did the best I could to just avoid him, stay out of his was. When Anna was born, I finally felt happy again. Not for long though because I knew I had to do whatever I could to keep Eric and his anger from her. I made sure she was in bed as early as I could and that whenever he came home angry I put myself in his path so he’d leave her alone.”

“I’m not sure how much it helped though,” Christen admits as she wipes at the tears in her eyes, “I know she still must have heard us fighting. That’s why she’s so wary of everyone she meets.”

Tobin tries to absorb everything Christen is saying. Deep down she’d been afraid that whatever had been going on was bad, she had just been wishing she was wrong.

“I finally got the nerve to fill for divorce,” Christen says with a add and steadying breath. “It wasn’t easy and Eric did whatever he could to make the process as long as possible but I did it. I took my daughter and just got out. I should have had the strength to do it sooner and I hate myself everyday for not being strong enough.”

“Chris,” Tobin says slowly, “you can’t hate yourself for what happened. This wasn’t your fault.”

Christen chuckles sadly, shaking her head, “How can you possibly say that?”

“He took advantage of you,” Tobin says, her own voice tight with her growing anger, “He came into your life when things were upside down and he took advantage of that. He put on an act to make you think he was someone who he wasn’t. He used the fact that you were hurting against you and took you as far from your family and friends as he could,” Tobin stops, shaking her head, “I should have kicked his ass when I had the chance.”

“I deserved it,” Christen says, her voice smaller than Tobin had ever heard it and her eyes were once again glued to the floorboard beneath her.

“No,” Tobin says and she gently lays her hands on Christen’s shoulders, “Chris,” she says and when Christen doesn’t move she says, “Chris, please look at me.”

Christen slowly looks up, meeting Tobin’s eyes again and Tobin can see the tear tracks on her face. She slowly moves one hand from Christen’s shoulder and cups her cheek, lightly running her thumb over her cheek, wiping the tears away.

“You didn’t deserve any of that,” Tobin says softly, “You are the most incredible, loving person I have ever met in my life. You’ve been through things that would turn most people into hate filled people and yet you still look at the world for the good it can be. You care about everyone you met, regardless if you know them or not.”

Christen closes her eyes briefly as another tear rolls down her cheek, Tobin wiping it away with her thumb.

“What you deserve,” Tobin continues with a small smile, “is everything. You deserve to be happy and cared for and loved. You deserve someone that cherishes every second they get to be with you.”

“Someone like you?” Christen asks, surprising herself, as her eyes open again and she manages a smile.

Tobin can’t help the chuckle that escapes her as her smile widens and she nods, “I do cherish every second I get with you, and with Anna, but Chris,” Tobin says with a sigh, “You deserve so much better than me. I let being afraid of losing you as a friend keep me from telling you how I really felt and I stood there and watched as Eric came into your life and take you away. I let being afraid win and I nearly lost you for good because of it.”

Christen reaches out and lays her hand on Tobin’s cheek, still smiling, “You never lost me. I thought about you every day I was gone.”

Tobin nods slightly and says, “I never stopped loving you Chris, I never could.”

A smile lights up Christen’s face and she says, “Don’t I deserve someone that loves me that much?”

“If I’m what you really want,” Tobin answers but her knowing smiling tells Christen all she needs to.

With a happy laugh, something Christen hadn’t thought she’d been capable of after today, she leans forward and lightly places her lips against Tobin’s. The moment their lips meet Christen feel likes she’s breathing again after years of holding her breath. Christen’s hand that had been on Tobin’s cheek moves, sliding to the back of Tobin’s head and pulling her closer, deepening the kiss.

Tobin’s other hand comes up to softly cup Christen’s face and before things go any farther, Tobin pulls back just enough to look at Christen.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” Tobin asks and Christen can see the want in the green eyes look back at her.

“You’re all I want,” Christen says with a small nod.

Tobin leans down, covering Christen’s mouth with her own and Christen can feel her smile into the kiss before deepening it again. Tobin’s hand fall to Christen’s waist, pulling her even closer.

Christen lets out a surprised laugh as she feels Tobin’s strong arms lift her into the air, Christen’s legs instantly wrapping around Tobin’s waist. Christen tilts her head to the side, letting her long hair fall to the side, then leans back down to kiss Tobin again. They’re both smiling into the kiss and Christen can’t help but laugh at the feeling.

Tobin doesn’t wait for Christen to kiss her again, instead she starts placing soft kisses on Christen’s neck, Christen tilting her head back to expose more of her neck. Being held in Tobin’s strong arms, Christen feels Tobin start to move them towards her room on the opposite side of the apartment from the guest room. 

It crosses Christen’s mind that she should feel nervous about what’s happening, despite dreaming about it for years, she had never imagined it would happen. She knows she’s safe here, in Tobin’s arms, and she knows that no matter what Tobin will keep her and Anna safe.

Christen feels Tobin’s hand slip under her shirt, touching the skin at the small of her back and all other thoughts leave her mind. She groans slightly at the contact, causing Tobin to move her lips back to Christen’s.

Before she knows it Christen is being gently set down on the edge of Tobin’s bed, Tobin kneeling on the floor in front of her.

Tobin looks at her with loving eyes and says, “We don’t have to do,” she stops when Christen places a finger gently on her lips, smiling.

“I know,” Christen smiles at her, “but I want you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!! Sorry it’s been a while since I got an update done. Life has been beyond crazy busy and today was the first time I actually got a chance to sit down and write in more than a week. On a good note, we got a puppy!!!!  
> Hope this chapter was worth the wait!!!


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kelley and Alex stand guard at the Press house overnight and the morning after for Tobin and Christen.

Kelley checked the handle of the front door for the fifth time since Cody had gone to bed a few hours ago, she was part way through latest round of the house. She’d been doing rounds every hour since it had gotten dark, knowing that things were easily missed in the overnight hours. She checked every door and window as she went, making sure that they remained locked and that nothing had changed since her last pass.

Kelley pulls back the curtain of the window next to the front door. Sitting along the curb in front of the house was the police cruiser holding two uniform officers who had been selected for the protection detail.

_One of the most boring details I ever had to work as a rookie,_ Kelley smiles as she lets the curtain slide from her hand. _At least they seem to be paying attention._

Kelley made her way from the front door to the kitchen, checking the windows there as well.

Christen had told both her and Alex before she had left that they could use her room for as long as they stayed, it had been the guest room before Christen had moved back.

_It’s sweet that Chris thought I’d actually be able to sleep,_ Kelley chuckles to herself. It had been a hell of a long day and Kelley knew she should be sleeping, especially since she hadn’t been doing a good job of it the last few nights.

Kelley glances towards the living room as she makes her way to the back door. Alex had turned down the offer of using Christen’s room as well and was currently sitting on the couch in the living room.

_I don’t know if I’m happy she’s here because I need her or if I’m more worried because I don’t want anything to happen to her._

“Are you planning on sleeping at all tonight?” Alex’s voice comes softly from her place on the couch as she watches Kelley make her most recent round.

“Probably not,” Kelley answers as she walks back into the living room. She had shed her suit jacket hours ago, the leather shoulder holster now standing out against the white of her button down shirt. Alex was usually able to ignore the fact that the shorter woman was most commonly armed, hidden well beneath her suit jackets or concealed at the small of her back and covered by a shirt.

“You’re going to be exhausted by morning if you don’t even try,” Alex offers as Kelley returns to her seat on the couch next to Alex.

“Not the first tine I’ve worked after not sleeping,” Kelley shrugs, offering Alex a smile.

“Did you let Janice know you weren’t going to be home tonight?” Alex asks after a moment, knowing that her friend had a knack for forgetting things like that.

“No,” Kelley says shortly then sighs and adds, “We broke up.”

“When?” Alex asks surprised.

“A few days ago,” Kelley admits.

“Days ago?” Alex asks, sitting up a little straighter and looking at Kelley, “We’ve been spending time together and you didn’t think you should mention it?”

“It’s not the first break-up I’ve gone through Al,” Kelley says plainly, “I’m actually getting pretty good at it.”

“That’s not funny Kelley,” Alex scolds her gently then asks, “What happened?”

“Same thing that always happens,” Kelley offers, “I’m not a good communicator and I keep secrets, not good about opening up about my past. You know, the usual.”

“So I guess that when you weren’t sleeping she asked why,” Alex says, it’s not a question.

“Yep,” Kelley nods but doesn’t add anything.

“And you couldn’t tell her,” Alex continues knowing full well she’s right. It wasn’t the first time Kelley had this problem with girlfriends over the years and Alex had wondered more than a few times if it was something Kelley would ever be able to open up about her past.

Kelley is silent several minutes before she answers, “It’s not like I don’t know it happened, or that I’m in some sort of denial,” Kelley says her voice growing thick as she continues, “It’s just that saying the words, out loud where someone else can hear them, it just makes it feel so much more real. Like I have to relive it every time I say it.”

“Sweetie,” Alex says softly, reaching out and lightly running her her fingers through Kelley’s loose hair. “You don’t have to talk about.”

“I’ve only been able to say it out loud three times in my entire life,” Kelley continues and Alex can hear the tears in her voice, “and that was to tell you, Chris and Tobin. I’ve tried to tell others but I just can’t make the words come out, they stick in my throat.”

“Not all traumas can be talked about,” Alex offers as Kelley’s eyes close, “and you’ve been through a hell of a go. If people can’t understand that, than they don’t deserve to have you in their lives.” 

Kelley turns her head so she’s now looking at Alex and asks, “Why the hell do you still put up with me and all my shit?”

Alex can’t help but smile at her friend, “Because all your shit is what makes you, you,” Alex moves her hand from Kelley’s hair to cup her cheek, “and you’re my best friend.”

Kelley doesn’t answer but leans into the touch, letting her eyes close again.

“I know you can’t sleep,” Alex whispers as she watches Kelley start to relax just a little, “but try to rest.”

**

Tobin slowly closes the door behind her as she steps out of the room dressed in running clothes. She had woken up about half an hour ago and seen that Christen was still sleeping soundly. Not wanting to wake her, Tobin had quietly gotten dressed and decided she needed to go for a run.

Running was a habit she had developed in her first year of high school, when she had started playing on the school team and it was something she still did everyday. While living in New Jersey made that sometime difficult, Tobin had found a way around it when she had purchased a treadmill and put it in the room that serves as her office.

She makes her way through the apartment and up the few steps that lead to the two other rooms. She stops and quietly opens the door to the guest bedroom, poking her head inside she sees that Anna is sound asleep as well and she smiles.

Stepping into the office Tobin flips on the light, it was still early enough that the sun wasn’t high enough to light up the room.

Ignoring the desk with the stack of paper sitting piled neatly on the corner, Tobin walks straight to the treadmill and hits the on button. Her run begins as a steady jog and speeds up slowly as her muscle warm up, her mind think back on the events of the previous night.

_Tobin wasn’t sure how long they had been laying together after and to be completely honest, she didn’t care. They were both laying on their stomachs, Christen having dozed off not long after they had settled back down._

_Being with Christen had been everything Tobin had hoped for and so much more._

_Tobin lifts herself up, resting on her forearms as she watches Christen sleep peacefully, a small smile still on her lips. Tobin reaches a hand out and lightly begins drawing circles on the bare skin of Christen’s back, just below her shoulder blade._

_“Hmm,” Christen hums, not opening her eyes, “that feels good.”_

_Tobin can’t help the smile that springs to her lips at the sound of Christen’s voice, still sounding mostly asleep._

_“I didn’t mean to wake you up,” Tobin whispers, fingers still trailing along Christen’s bare skin._

_“Um, not awake,” Christen manages, “still sleeping.”_

_“Since when did you talk in your sleep?” Tobin asks with a chuckle._

_Christen’s eyes flutter open slightly and she looks at Tobin, “Since tonight,” she answers, her smile reaching her eyes._

_“Are you ok?” Tobin asks after a moment. She’d been worried about how things would be after, after the adrenaline and passion had faded, and they were left with just their thoughts._

_“More than ok,” Christen answers._

_“Yea?” Tobin ask, feeling whatever worry may have been circling her mind disappear._

_Christen nods, her eyes drifting closed again as Tobin leans over, placing a kiss on her shoulder._

_“I’ve thought about a moment like this for years,” Christen admits, her voice once again taking on that sleepy tone._

Looking down at the time display on the treadmill Tobin begins to slow her run, having lost track of time and having passed her usual mark.

While last night had been beyond amazing there were still things a that weighed heavily on Tobin’s mind in the morning light and she knew that she and Christen would need to talk once the other woman was awake and ready.

Tobin steps off the treadmill as she feels her phone vibrate in her pants pocket, pulling it out she sees a message from Kelley.

**Quiet night here. How was everything at your place? – Kelley**

Tobin quirks a small smile before she types out a reply.

**Everything here is good. Christen and Anna are still sleeping. – Tobin**

Kelley reply is almost instant.

**Cody and Alex too. Figured I’ll head into the station once they’re up and see where we at with the case. – Kelley**

**Sounds good. I’ll be in this afternoon. – Tobin**

As Tobin steps into the hallway she slides her phone back into her pocket and hears a sound coming from the guest room. Tobin hesitates a second but then cracks open the door to the bedroom. Seeing Anna sitting up in the bed she smiles and steps inside.

“Hey there kid,” Tobin says with a smile.

“Where’s momma?” is Anna’s response.

“She’s downstairs sleeping,” Tobin answers, “Do you want to eat breakfast?”

“I eat breakfast with mommy,” Anna says very matter of factly.

“Ok,” Tobin says, suppressing the laugh she feels at the seriousness of the little girl’s voice.

“Can we play soccer?” Anna asks, suddenly excited.

Tobin hesitates a moment before she nods her head and says, “As long as we do it quietly. Don’t want to wake your mommy up.”

**

Christen wasn’t sure how long she had been sleeping, her body felt more relaxed than she could ever remember it being before, and she couldn’t stand the thought of opening her just yet.

_What if it had been just another dream?_ Christen worries to herself.

She’d drifted off to sleep wrapped in the warmth that was Tobin, a warmth she had missed even more than she realized she had in the last few years.

Christen stretches her arm out and frowns when her hand is meant with cold sheets where warm skin should have been. Opening her eyes with a small frown Christen looks around the room, _Definitely Tobin’s room,_ she confirms seeing the soccer jersey thrown over the top of the dresser next to the bed, HEATH, in bold letters across the back.

That’s when Christen notices something else, voices coming from the living room she had finally found the courage to tell Tobin the truth. She stays still and listen for a moment before she sighs and slides out of the bed.

Glancing around the room Christen can’t see where her shirt had landed the night before and snatches the jersey off the dresser, checking it quickly to make sure it was clean she slides it on, along with a pair of sweat pants also sitting on the dresser and opens the bedroom door.

She steps out quietly and what she sees in the living room brings a smile to her face. Tobin is sitting on the floor, baseball cap on backwards and balancing a soccer ball on her forehead while Anna watches.

“Ok,” Tobin says as she snatches the ball off her head and holds it out to Anna, “Now you try.”

Anna nods and Tobin holds on to the ball, lightly placing it on Anna’s head while not letting go. Anna’s little tongue sticks out of the corner of her mouth as she concentrates on keeping her head still. Tobin lets go of the ball and it manages to stay for a second or two before it rolls forward, Tobin catching it again with ease.

“You did it kiddo!” Tobin says excited, holding her hand up and Anna high fives it with a wide smile on her face.

Christen leans against the wall leading from the living room to the kitchen as she watches the two, Tobin coming to her feet and showing Anna how to dribble. Anna, who is using a smaller size soccer balls tries to match Tobin’s steps, concentrates on the older woman watching everything she does.

Tobin looks up and catches sight of Christen standing there and a nervous smile comes to her face. There weren’t many times when the confident and cocky Tobin Heath was nervous and Christen had to admit that it was adorable.

“Hey, looks like mommy’s up,” Tobin says to Anna, who looks in the direction Tobin is pointing.

“Mommy,” Anna says excited when she catches sight of Christen, quickly heading around the couch to where her mother stands.

“Morning my big girl,” Christen says as she leans down and scoops up the little girl.

“Tobin was teaching me how to play soccer,” Anna says excitedly, “I was doing good.”

“Yes you were,” Tobin says with a smile, she’d followed Anna from the living room but stays a few steps back. “She’s a superstar, just like her mom.”

“Morning,” Christen says with a small smile.

“Morning,” Tobin says, still with that nervous smile.

“Hey baby,” Christen says looking down at her daughter in her arms, “Can you go read one of your books while I talk to Tobin?”

“Can we have pancakes then?” Anna asks.

“Absolutely,” Christen nods, then sets Anna back down on the floor. To her credit Anna walks back into the living room, finding her backpack with her books in it and settled down on the floor in front of the couch.

“She’s an amazing kid,” Tobin offers looking back at Christen. “I, uh, wanted to let you sleep. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” Christen shakes her head, “it’s really something, the way she looks up to you.”

Tobin remains quiet for a moment, looking back over her shoulder to make sure that Anna was busy with her books, then takes a few steps forward, putting her within touching distance of Christen but her hands remain at her side.

“Are you ok?” Tobin asks quietly, “After last night I mean.”

It takes Christen a moment to understand what Tobin was asking. She was worried that Christen was upset or maybe even hurt, regretting perhaps.

“Yea,” Christen says with a smile. She reaches out, closing the last of the gap between them, and cups Tobin’s face in her hands. “I’m more than ok,” Christen answers in a soft voice as she gently places her lips on Tobin’s. Just like last night, Christen feels Tobin smile into the kiss.

When Christen pulls back a few seconds later, having let the kiss linger, she sees that Tobin’s eyes are still shut and her smile widens.

“I was worried,” Tobin says opening her eyes slowly.

“You don’t need to be,” Christen smiles softly running her thumb over Tobin’s cheek. “Last night was perfect. I just wish it hadn’t taken us so long to get there.”

Tobin chuckles but nods, turning her head to kiss the palm of Christen’s hand before she drops them from her face.

“I talked to Kelley a bit earlier,” Tobin then says, “everything was fine last night at your dad’s house.”

“Thank goodness,” Christen sighs, she feels a pang of guilt for having let herself not think about the danger that was looming over them all last night. “I thought I’d left all that behind me.”

“I know,” Tobin says then sighs and continues, “I need you to come down to the station today.”

“For what?” Christen asks surprised, “You said nothing happened last night.”

“Nothing did,” Tobin confirms with a nod, “but you need to file a report about what happened, what Eric did to you.”

Christen was shaking her head before Tobin had finished her sentence, “That all happened out in LA, there’s nothing that we can do about it now.”

“It’s important that we get it all on the record, anything you can tell us could help us build a better case against him and it shows he has a history of violence,” Tobin explains, “and I think we need to get an order of protection for you and Anna.”

“A piece of paper isn’t going to stop him from showing up,” Christen disagrees, crossing her arms over her chest and pulling away just a little.

“You’re right,” Tobin agrees with a nod, “a piece of paper won’t stop him but it gives us a legal leg to stand on if he tries anything.”

“I can’t,” Christen shakes her head, feeling suddenly small. “I can’t relive that all again.”

“Ok,” Tobin says with a nod, “you don’t have to.”

“What?” Christen asks again surprised.

“I’m not going to make you do anything you don’t want to Chris,” Tobin shrugs, “Just thinking about it.”

Christen nods, letting her arms fall back to her side, “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry Chris,” Tobin says holding her hand out, not wanting to touch Christen if she’s uncomfortable now.

Christen reaches out, taking Tobin’s hand and stepping close to her again. Tobin wraps her arms around Christen’s shoulders and Christen’s arms wrapping around her waist.

“It’s going to be alright Chris,” Tobin promises, resting her cheek on top of Christen’s head, “No matter what happens, we’re going to be alright.”

**

“O’Hara!!!!” Kelley hears her name called the moment she steps onto their floor of the police station. It wasn’t long after she had texted a Tobin that Cody had come downstairs and the two had quietly made their way to the kitchen, Cody putting on a pot of coffee while they waited for Alex to wake up.

After Kelley had checked in with the uniforms out front she had showered and headed into the station, hoping that today would bring new evidence and a closer to this case. She hadn’t expected to hear her name yelled as soon as she got to work.

“My office, now,” the voice of her Captain continues.

Kelley sighs, dropping her bag and jacket off at her desk as she makes her way to his office.

“Morning Captain,” she says casually as she steps into his office, the door closed right behind her.

“Don’t good morning me,” he says, Captain Jenkins was usually a fairly good spirited guy so his tone surprised Kelley.

“Something wrong?” Kelley asks standing in front of his desk.

“Can you explain this to me?” He says holding a piece of paper in front of him.

“Looks like a sheet of paper,” Kelley starts but stops when he glares at her.

“It’s a petition from some upscale attorney, he says you and Heath harassed his client,” the Captain continues as he hands the paper over to Kelley.

“Bullshit,” Kelley says, taking the paper and scanning over it.

“Please tell me you didn’t drag his client in here with no evidence,” the Captain says in a tired voice. If Kelley had to guess she’d say the Captain has been dealing with this all morning.

“We had a partial fingerprint on the murder weapon,” Kelley answers with a shake of her head, “plus this guy show up in town the day before the first murder and I know he has a history of violence,” she adds in a low voice.

“The lawyer’s saying they can explain the print,” Captain Jenkins sighs, “and the rest is circumstantial evidence.”

“I know this guy did this,” Kelley insist, setting the paper back down on the Captain’s desk.

“Then you need to prove it,” is his answer, “Where’s Heath?”

“At home,” Kelley says a bit reluctant to get into details but knowing she probably should, “The suspect’s ex-wife is a high school friend of ours. She was worried yesterday when she found out he was here so she stayed with Tobin last night.”

“Jesus,” the Captain mutters, “I should pull both of you off this right now.”

“Captain,” Kelley says in a steady voice, “we’re two of your best detectives and no body knows this case as well as we do. Let us finish this one.”

The Captain hesitates a moment before he nods his head, “Fine, but you better have some solid evidence before you bring this guy in again.”

“Absolutely sir,” Kelley says with a nod as she heads for the door.

“And tell Heath to get her ass in here,” the Captain calls after her as she steps into the hallway, already pulling her phone out.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit more of the morning after fluff plus Christen has to make up her mind about an important decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long!!! The world is crazy right now and that’s no exception here at all. I’ve got the end in sight for this one now and I hope that since I am now stuck at home for sure, will finally be able to devote time to writing.

“I can’t believe you still keep pancake mix in the same place,” Christen says with a smile as she pours the last spoonful of batter on to the skillet she had been using to make breakfast. “Your entire kitchen is set up exactly like it was in college.”

“Really?” Tobin asks, looking up from the sink, where she was washing her and Christen’s plates. They had finished eating but there had been just enough batter left for one last, small pancake.

“Yea,” Christen nods, “Bowls and plates above the stove, glasses next to the fridge and all your cooking stuff in the cabinets next to the stove because you always forget something when you cook.”

“How can you remember all that?” Tobin asks with a laugh, “College seems like forever ago.”

“It was,” Christen agrees with a smile and another nod, “but, despite how terrible things were after mom, those first two years in college were my favorite. It was just you and me most of the time, made me feel like things were going to be ok.” Christen voice lowers slightly with those last few words.

Tobin finishes drying the last plate and carefully lays it down on the counter, drying her hands off on the dish towel before she turns to Christen and says, “Hey, things are still going to be alright. We’ll get it right this time.”

Christen’s eye move to Anna, who is sitting at the table coloring, before she nods and leans her head against Tobin’s shoulder, Tobin resting her head against Christen’s.

“Tobin,” Christen says after a moment.

“Hmm,” is Tobin’s reply.

“You should probably shower,” Christen says with a smile in her voice.

“Oh right,” Tobin chuckles. “I forgot I went for a run this morning while you guys were still sleeping.”

“Treadmill in the office?” Christen asks lifting her head to look at Tobin, the question seemed less like a question and more like a statement.

“How’d you know I didn’t go out for a run?” Tobin asks.

“You said last nigh that you wouldn’t leave us alone,” Christen answers with a shrug.

“I did,” Tobin smiles then shakes her head, “but yea, shower. Good idea. I’ll be right back,” Tobin says then leans forward and places a soft kiss on Christen’s cheek before she heads out of the kitchen, disappearing through the bedroom door a moment later.

Christen smiles at the retreating figure then sighs contentedly, _Why did it take me so long to realize how I’ve always felt about Tobin?_ _It could have saved so much heartache and pain if I had._

“Mommy, can we stay here with Tobin?” Anna asks breaking Christen out of her thought.

“Yes, baby, we’ll be here today,” Christen answers with a smile. _Everything happens for a reason. If I hadn’t married Eric, I wouldn’t have my beautiful girl._

“But can we stay here?” Anna continues looking up from her book. “I like grandpa’s but if we stay here I can learn soccer and watch movies with Tobin.”

“Um,” Christen says, at a loss for how to answer her daughter’s question. Before she can think of anything to say Tobin’s phone, which she had left on the kitchen counter, begins to ring. Christen snatches it up and seeing Kelley’s face on the screen, goes to take a few steps towards the bedroom when she realizes she can hear the shower already running.

Conflicted for a heartbeat she swipes the phone to answer and lifts it to her ear, “Hello.”

“Chris?” Kelley answers confused. “I thought I called Tobin’s phone.”

“You did,” Christen nods, knowing that Kelley can’t see her, “but she’s in the shower right now.”

“Right,” Kelley says, drawing the word out, “Does that mean you two.”

“Kelley,” Christen cuts her off with a firm voice. While she was beyond happy about the previous night she wasn’t ready to gossip about it.

“Yea,” Kelley says and Christen can imagine the other woman’s grin, “Anyway, when Tobin gets out of the shower tell her she needs to get to the station.”

“Everything alright?” Christen asks, her voice turning from stern to concerned.

“Yea,” Kelley answers sounding anything but sure. “Everything’s great.”

“Kelley,” Christen says again.

Kelley hesitates before she sighs heavily and says, “Ok, so it’s not a big deal, but Eric’s lawyer filed a complaint with Tobin and me about arresting him yesterday so we have to be really careful going forward.”

“Carefully how?” Christen asks in a low voice, glancing at Anna.

“Like we need to find more evidence before we even think about bringing him in again,” Kelley explains sounding frustrated.

“How much evidence do you have?” Christen asks, knowing she probably shouldn’t but asking anyway.

Kelley hesitates again and Christen can swear she can hear the other woman thinking through the line, “Not enough,” she says finally and quickly adds, “but we’ll get him.”

“We don’t know that,” Christen says with a shake of her head.

Kelley hesitates and it’s all Christen needs to know just how bad things are.

“Chris, I,” Kelley starts but Christen cuts her off again.

“Kelley, it’s ok,” Christen says in a steady voice, biting her lip. “I’ll let Tobin know you called.”

“Thanks,” Kelley says sounding just a bit upset.

Christen hangs up, gently placing Tobin’s phone back down on the counter, she looks over at her daughter, still happily entertaining herself and manages a sad smile at the girl as her mind drifts.

_“What the hell is this?” Erie says, his voice full of anger, as he drops the phone bill on the counter in front of Christen._

_“Eric, I just got Anna to go to sleep,” Christen sighs, it had taken her longer than normal tonight to get her daughter to agree to lay down by herself. She had insisted that Christen lay with her and every time she had tried to slide off the toddler’s bed the little girl had reached out and held her mother tighter._

_“Ashlyn’s number is on here six times in the last week,” Eric continues not lowering his voice._

_“She called, she wants to come out for Anna’s birthday,” Christen explains looking at the pages in front of her. Eric had been pulling phone records on their phone lines weekly._

_“I already told you we’re not having a party and no one is coming out from back there,” Eric all but snarls at her._

_“I know,” Christen answers tiredly. They’d been through this so many times in the last few months that her will to argue had disappeared. “I told Ash that but her and Ali still want to come out. They haven’t seen Anna since she was an infant. No one from back home has except for dad and Alex and they’ve only been here for Anna’s birthdays.”_

_“And that is why we aren’t having one for her this year. The last thing we need is your family out here trying to screw with our family,” Eric says taking a step closer to the counter and to Christen._

_“Daddy just wants to see his granddaughter,” Christen says in a near whisper, “and I’d like to see my father. Just daddy, Eric, please.”_

_“Damn it, I said no!” Eric shouts, slamming her hand down hard on the counter right in front of Christen, causing her to flinch and cover her face with her hands. “What the hell is this?” Eric asks, reaching out and grabbing Christen’s right hand, yanking it away from her face. “I thought I told you I never wanted to see that ring again!”_

_“It’s just the ring I’ve had since high school,” Christen says as she tries to pull her hand from his grip and fails._

_“Bullshit,” he snarls, tighten his hold on her wrist, “it’s the ring she gave you and I know what it means.”_

_“It was a present, that’s all,” Christen tries to explain, tears swelling in her eyes._

_“Don’t lie,” Eric shouts, shoving Christen’s hand away, “You think I didn’t see how she looked at you? You think I didn’t know what was going on?”_

_“Nothing was going on,” Christen cries. “We were just friends.”_

_“We’re, that’s right,” Eric says and even though Christen isn’t looking at him she can hear the smile in his voice, “you were friends. Then she left you, just walked away without a second thought or hesitation at all.”_

“Mommy,” Anna’s voice pulls Christen from the memory with a small startle. “The pancake,” Anna adds pointing behind Christen to the stove where she had forgotten about the last pancake she had left there which was now smoking slightly.

“Shit,” Christen hisses as she rushes back to the stove, pulling the skillet and smoking pancake off the burner.

“Mommy, that was a bad word,” Anna says simply causing Christen to chuckle.

“Yes it was,” Christen sighs as she sets the skillet down on a cold burner and fans the smoke from in front of her, “and it looks like that pancake didn’t make it.”

“Everything ok out here?” Tobin asks from the doorway to her bedroom.

“Yea,” Christen nods, placing a hand to her forehead, feeling her face warm with a blush, “I burned the last pancake, pretty bad too.”

“Leave you alone for a few minutes and your try to burn down the apartment,” Tobin says with a teasing grin and Christen looks up at her.

The detective is dressed in grey slacks with a navy blue button down, her leather shoulder holster, which is currently empty, accents the dark blue with it’s brown leather and Christen has to force herself to swallow at her suddenly dry throat.

“Um, sorry,” Christen says, moving her hand to rest on her temple.

“Hey, it’s not a big deal,” Tobin says with a wide smile as she takes the few steps between her and where Christen stands. She reaches out to take Christen’s hand but when the other woman flinches she stops, lowering her hands.

“Sorry,” Christen says again as she feels tears prickle her eyes, “I just, got lost in thought.”

“Chris, it’s just a pancake,” Tobin offers.

Christen chuckles shortly and nods finally lowering her hand from her face and reaching out to Tobin with it.

Carefully, Tobin reaches out and takes Christen’s hand, closing the gap between them. Tobin is quiet as Christen leans into her, resting her head on Tobin’s shoulder and wrapping an arm around Tobin’s waist.

“It’s alright Chris,” Tobin says in a soft voice, not knowing what was going through Christen’s mind in that moment, “What can I do?”

“Tell me walking away that day wasn’t what you wanted to do,” Christen says in a small voice.

“It wasn’t,” Tobin answers, not asking what day Christen meant, “It was the hardest, dumbest thing I ever did. I should have stood up and objected and we could have run off somewhere like out of one of those cheesy rom coms you like,” she says the last part with a chuckle, making Christen smile just a little.

They’re quiet for a moment, Tobin slowly running her hand up and down Christen’s back in a calming manner and Christen begins to relax again.

“I know it’s silly,” Christen finally says, lifting her head so she can look at Tobin while she talks, “but I just needed to hear it.”

“Anytime,” Tobin smiles back at her.

Christen smiles back at her, feeling herself getting lost in the light in Tobin’s eyes, but shakes her head clear and says, “Oh, Kelley called while you were in the shower.”

Tobin’s smile fades slightly but she asks, “What’d she say?”

Christen glances at Anna and answers in a low voice, “That Eric’s lawyer filed a complaint about you two with your Captain.”

“Son of a bitch,” Tobin growls in a low voice then glances at Anna quickly, “Sorry,” she says to Christen, “not used to the tiny human.”

Despite feeling hopeless just a moment ago Christen chuckles, “It’s fine, takes some getting used to.”

Tobin’s smile returns and she says, “Well, I’m looking forward to getting used to.”

**

“Tony, you can’t seriously tell me there was nothing else,” Kelley sighs for probably the hundredth time that morning. She’d been on the phone with Eric’s phone company attempting to get a log of his phone calls and GPS locations at the times of the murders but they had just talked her in circles until she had hung up cursing.

“Hello to you too,” Tony chuckles, “I was about to call you actually.

“Tell me you got something,” Kelley says lifting her head.

“We found something,” Tony says with a smug smile clear in his voice. “I was going over the victim’s clothes again and I found some hairs.”

“DNA?” Kelley asks hopefully.

“Three hairs with roots, so yea, DNA,” Tony says, “I sent them out to find a match about an hour ago. It’s going to take some time to get a hit though.”

“Any way we can speed that up?” Kelley asks looking at the watch on her wrist.

“Not unless you’ve got something to compare it to,” Tony answers.

Kelley growls and answers, “Not without a warrant.”

“Then give us some time and we’ll get you a match,” Tony answers and the call ends.

“Great,” Kelley mumbles as she hangs up. _Time. What else is that time going to cost us?_

“You look like hell partner,” Tobin’s voice comes from behind her and Kelley turns her chair in the direction of the voice.

“Didn’t realize you were traveling with an entourage now a days,” Kelley says with a smile when she sees Christen and Anna standing behind Tobin.

“Don’t be jealous,” Tobin jokes back, “I brought Anna along so you’d have someone in your age group to talk to.”

“Funny,” Kelley chuckles as her eyes land on Christen. “How you doing?”

“We’re alright,” Christen says with a nod and it doesn’t escape Kelley’s notice that her friend and partner are holding hands. “I was hoping I could help,” Christen adds, stopping any remark Kelley was about to make and stunning her.

“Help,” Kelley repeats looking from Christen to Tobin and back again, “You mean you want to..”

“File a report,” Christen finishes with a nod, “against Eric.”

“Ok,” Kelley says a little dumbly then she looks at Tobin and says, “You, can’t be anywhere near this. You know that.”

“I do,” Tobin nods, “That’s why I’m going to take Christen downstairs so she can talk to a detective and get the paperwork started.”

“Can you watch Anna?” Christen asks in a small voice, “She’s already been exposed to enough of this and I don’t want her waiting with someone I don’t know.”

“Absolutely,” Kelley says with a wide smile. “She can help me write up some reports I’ve been neglecting.”

Christen gives Tobin a concerned like to which Tobin chuckles and says, “Don’t worry, Anna can help fix Kelley’s grammar.”

“Keep going and I won’t tell you about the break we may have caught this morning,” Kelley teases knowing full well she’ll tell Tobin anyway.

“We caught a break?” Tobin asks, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

“They found hair fibers on the victim’s clothes,” Kelley smiles, “Just waiting for the DNA results, but it could take some time since we don’t have anything to compare it to.”

“This could be good,” Tobin nods and looks to Christen with a smile, “DNA is enough to bring him in and maybe even to hold him.”

“If you get a match,” Christen says with some doubt in her voice, “and you have no idea how long it’ll take.”

“Right,” Tobin sighs, “but it’s better than what we had last night, which was nothing.”

“And DNA doesn’t always take forever to run,” Kelley adds as Anna walks over to her and crawls into her lap, “He’s got to be in someone’s system.”

Christen doesn’t say anything after that and Tobin gives her hand a reassuring squeeze and says, “Let’s head downstairs.”

Christen nods and crouches down in front of Kelley to talk to Anna, “You be a good girl for your aunt Kelley ok? Mommy and Tobin will be back soon.”

“Ok mommy,” Anna says and she leans back against Kelley.

Christen finds herself even more grateful for her dear friend in this moment and for the time Kelley had spent on the phone, FaceTiming her and Anna. It was one of the ways Christen had found to be able to communicate with her family back home without Eric knowing.

Anna hadn’t had the chance to meet everyone face to face until they had made the move back home not all that long ago, but the girl remembered each face and voice.

With that Christen stands back up, once again taking Tobin’s hand and nods her readiness.

Kelley can’t help the small smile that comes to her face when she sees the two women in front of her, granted Christen looks worries and just a little scared and Tobin looks concerned, but there was a new strength between the two and it went a lot farther than them just holding hands.

_Looks like they finally got it figured out,_ Kelley thinks with a smile as the pair headed back downstairs.

“Alright kiddo,” Kelley says shifting her attention back to the toddler on her lap, “I’ve got something for you from your last birthday that I never got to give you.”

“I didn’t have a party,” is Anna’s reply and Kelley feels a pang of guilt over the disappointment in the girl’s voice.

“I know but I kept your present in the bottom of my desk just in case,” Kelley answers with a grin as she reaches down and pulls open the bottom drawer of her desk.

Anna’s eyes follow Kelley’s movements as Kelley pulls out a small rectangular box wrapped with colorful paper and sits it on her desk.

“That’s for me?” Anna asks, surprise and excitement in her voice.

“It is,” Kelley nods, barely containing the growing smile on her face. “Do you want to open it?”

Anna nods, not taking her eyes off the wrapped box on front of her.

“Well go ahead,” Kelley can’t help but laugh at the girl’s restraint, earning her a few looks from the desks around her. She shoots the others a ‘shut up’ glare before turning her attention but to the girl in her lap.

Kelley knows that Christen had done everything she could to keep Anna from the abuse of her father but she also knows that no matter how much you try to shield your kids from the harshness of the world, something always gets through.

Anna had to be the quietest, most reserved four year old Kelley had ever seen and Kelley knew it had to do with how life had been before Anna and Christen had finally returned home. _I can’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like out there._

Kelley’s thoughts are interrupted when Anna finally reaches forward and begins to pull the paper from the box, revealing a child’s art set, complete with markers, colored pencils and a few different types of paint, along with a stack of paper.

“Your mommy told me how much you like to draw and color,” Kelley tells Anna as she watches the girl’s eyes roam over all the colors.

“Can we color now?” Anna asks, looking at Kelley with hopeful eyes.

“Sure,” Kelley nods as she clears her desk of the few papers that could wait and checked to make sure both her desk phone and cell phone were turned so she’d hear them if they rang.

“What should be draw first?” Kelley asks as she lays a sheet of white paper on the center of her desk.

“I want to draw Tobin and Aunt Kelley playing soccer,” Anna says firmly and again, Kelley can’t help the laugh that comes out of her.

“You got it kiddo,” Kelley nods, setting the now open art set in front of Anna


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry everyone, I know it's been forever since I updated but I haven't had a lot of time to write lately between schoolwork, family stuff and health issues I've been short on time.

Chapter Seventeen  
“Are you ok?” Tobin asks when her and Christen step out of the interview room they had spent the last two and a half hours in while Christen had given her statement about Eric and the paperwork had been put into motion.

“I’m alright,” Christen nods a bit numbly and the worried look on Tobin’s face increases so she adds, “Really. I’m alright. That just wore me out a little more than I thought it would.”

“It was a lot,” Tobin says, her voice dropping with the anger she had felt sitting there listening to everything that had happened. It wasn’t anger at Christen or even completely at Eric, though she did have to resist the urge to hunt him down at that very moment, she realized that she was just as angry with herself. 

She’d never trusted Eric but she’d pushed her gut feeling aside because she didn’t want to do anything that wold hurt Chris in any way, her friend had been through so much by that point already. Tobin had been on this job long enough now to know to follow her gut, which was why she had nearly gone out to the west coast more than once over the years. Now, she wish she had.

“Thank you,” Christen says as she takes Tobin’s hand again, “for being in there with me. I don’t know if I could have done any of this on my own.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit,” Tobin offers her with a smile as they begin to walk down the hallway leading to the stairs, “You’re a lot stronger than you think.”

“I don’t feel very strong,” Christen admits in a low voice, biting her lip.

“You went through a lot,” Tobin tries but Christen doesn’t look up and they continue to walk.

“I should have left,” Christen shakes her head.

“You did,” Tobin says as she pushes through the door.

“I should have left long before I did,” Christen shakes her head again, “Did you see the look on his face when I told him how long I was married?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Tobin shakes her head, stopping as the door to the hallway closes behind them, “what anyone else thinks. They didn’t live through it, you did.”

Christen nods her head and finally looks at Tobin again, “I just worry about Anna.”

“I know,” Tobin acknowledges with a nod as they begin to make their way up the stairs, “but Anna is going to be alright.”

“I just wish all this was behind us,” Christen sighs.

“Me too,” Tobin agrees, “if we could just find a way to get a DNA match…” Tobin’s voice trails off and she stops part way up the stairs.

“Tobin?” Christen asks concerned and watches as a look of realization crosses her face. “What is it?”

“Anna,” Tobin says as a smile crosses her face, “Anna can help us get the DNA match we need.”

“How?” Christen asks but Tobin has already started moving again, this time with a quicker step.

“If we can do a DNA test on Anna,” Tobin explains as they reach the top of the stairs, “we’ll be able to compare it to what we have, there should be certain markers that show the DNA is from a parent.”

“Wait, what?” Christen asks, shaking her head as she tries to understand everything the detective had just rattled off. 

“Kelley,” Tobin says as they reach the desks area, “we may be able to get a match.”

“I know,” Kelley says with a crocked smile and a nod, glancing down at the girl still sitting on her lap.

“Hi mommy,” Anna says from Kelley’s lap, looking up from a drawing she had been concentrating on. 

“Hi baby,” Christen says with a small smile, “what are you working on?”

“Aunt Kelley gave me an art set for my birthday,” Anna says proudly, holding up the marker she was using to show Christen. 

Christen looks at Kelley slightly confused to which Kelley shrugs and answers, “Just because I couldn’t come out doesn’t mean I didn’t get her something.”

Christen feels tears burn her eyes and she bites her lip before saying in a quiet voice, “Thank you.”

“Ok, kiddo,” Kelley says looking at Tobin before she looks down at Anna, “Aunt Kelley needs to talk with mommy and,” Kelley hesitates then says, “Tobin, but you keep drawing and I’ll be back.”

Anna agrees with a nod and Kelley stands up, lifting the girl with her before carefully setting her back down on the office chair.

The trio take a few steps away from the desk, still keeping an eye on Anna while still being out of ear shot of the girl.

“How did we not think about getting a DNA sample from Anna?” Tobin asks Kelley while the other woman shakes her head with a smile.

“I don’t know, but it’s brilliant,” Kelley agrees.

“Hold on,” Christen says, still trying to make the connection, “How is getting a DNA sample from my daughter going to help anything.”

“If we get a sample from Anna,” Tobin explains, “we can compare it to the sample we got from our victim, they’ll be certain markers in the DNA that are going to be the same.”

“Right,” Kelley nods and continues, “and those markers will show if our sample is a parent sample of Anna’s. That’s how they do paternity tests, if the markers match, we know Eric did it.”

“Would a DNA test hurt?” Christen asks sounding unsure.

“No,” Tobin shakes her head, looking at Christen and taking her hands, “if it would hurt her, I wouldn’t let them do.”

“It’s just a swab on the inside of her cheek,” Kelley explains more, watching how Tobin and Christen interact.”

“It’s more likely to tickle than hurt,” Tobin offers with a smile.

Christen is silent a moment before she nods, “Alright, go ahead.”

Kelley pulls her phone out of her pocket and says, “I’ll call Tony and get him up here.”

Christen looks at Tobin for clarification, “Tony is our forensics guy. He’ll do the test.”

“Will this be enough to arrest Eric?” Christen asks.

“It’ll be enough for us to get a warrant to get his DNA,” Tobin answers honestly, “which is a hell of a lot more than we had before.”

“Ok,” Christen says with a nod to Tobin, “Whatever we need to do to put this all behind us.”

A few minutes later Tony arrives at Tobin’s desk with a small lab kit and a smile.

“Hi there,” Tony says looking from Tobin and Kelley, who stand next to Tobin’s desk, to Christen and Anna, the former sitting in Tobin’s desk chair and the latter in her mother’s lap.

“Hello,” Christen offers a smile in return and Anna stays quiet. 

“This is Christen and Anna,” Tobin introduces them to Tony, “Tony here is going to do the test.”

“I don’t like test,” Anna says in a small voice.

“I don’t either,” Tobin says crouching down in front of Christen and Anna, resting her hand lightly on Christen’s knee, “but I promise that it’s not going to hurt.”

“Do you want me to do it first?” Christen asks, covering Tobin’s hand with her own.

“I didn’t know Tobin had a girlfriend,” Tony says in a whisper, leaning closer to Kelley. 

“It’s a new development,” Kelley mumbles, since Tobin hadn’t actually said anything to Kelley about what had happened Kelley didn’t figure it was her place to mention it to anyone else.

Anna, who has been watching Tobin, shakes her head and says, “Can Tobin do it too?”

A smile spreads across Tobin’s face and she nods, “Of course.”

“Good thing I brought plenty of extra swabs,” Tony says in a low voice to Kelley as Tobin comes back to her full height. 

Tobin perches herself on the edge of her desk and Tony sets his lab kit on the desk next to her. 

“Have you talked to the Captain yet?” Tony asks as he pulls a swab from his kit and opens it.

“Not yet,” Tobin answers looking over Tony’s shoulder to Kelley, “I’ll go talk to him after.”

“Alright kiddo,” Christen says, wrapping an arm around Anna, “watch Tobin.”

“Ok,” Tony nods holding the swab up and smiling, “open up.”

Tobin glares at Tony but opens her mouth and lets him swab the inside of her cheek.

“See?” Tobin says after, looking down at Anna with a wide smile, “didn’t hurt at all.”

Anna hesitates then says, “Mommy next.”

“Ok,” Christen chuckles and Tony crouches down in front of them. 

Tobin watches as Tony swabs Christen’s cheek, Anna paying close attention the entire time. When it came time for her, she still looked a little unsure. 

“Hey, kiddo,” Tobin smiles as she crouches down beside her and Christen again, leaving enough room for Tony. “How about mommy and I both hold your hand?”

Anna nods her Head, reaching out and taking Tobin’s offered hand as Tony crouches down next to Tobin. 

A few seconds later and the test is done, Tony securing the swab with Anna’s sample on it back in his kit and heading off to his lab. 

“Nothing left to do now but wait,” Kelley sighs as she sits down in her desk chair. 

“Speak for yourself,” Tobin sighs, “I guess I should go talk to the Captain.”

“Are we getting you into trouble?” Christen asks, she’s still sitting in Tobin’s chair though Anna had decided to rejoin Kelley at her desk so she could finish coloring. 

“Nah,” Tobin says shaking her head and offering Christen a smile, “I’ve been getting into trouble of my own for years.”

Christen doesn’t look convinced and Tobin chuckles, leaning down, she places a quick kiss on Christen’s cheek and says, “Don’t worry. I’ll be right back.”

Tobin doesn’t wait for a response as she straightens up, throwing Kelley a quick look before she heads in the direction of the Captain’s office.

Tobin hesitates a moment before climbing the four short steps leading to the Captain’s office.

Before she even has the chance to knock the Captain speaks, “Come in Heath. Close the door behind you.”

“Yes sir,” Tobin says stepping into the office and closing the door. She turns towards his desk, handing folded in front of her and says, “I heard you wanted to talk to me.”

“We need to discuss this case,” he gets straight to the point, “and your connection to your suspect.”

“I didn’t know I had a connection to this case when Kelley and I caught it a few days ago,” Tobin admits with a shake of her head, “It’s gotten a bit complicated since then.”

Her Captain huffs a laugh, sitting down in the chair behind his desk, “Complicated seems to be an understatement here. You’re dating the ex-wife of your suspect.”

“Dating, I don’t know, um,” Tobin feels herself caught a little off guard by his statement. While it’s something she’s hoped for, for years now it was still very new, “but I guess you could say that. It’s also kind of complicated.”

“The last thing we need is a complication on a case like this,” he sighs, looking Tobin over a moment before he says, “You can’t touch this case anymore. Kelley shouldn’t either but I’ll leave her on it for now.”

“Understood,” Tobin nods, having guessed this was what he wanted.

“I also don’t want you in the station until we get things straightened out,” he adds.

“What?” Tobin asks, now surprised, “You’re putting me on leave?”

“For now,” he nods but continues, “just until we catch a break. I don’t want to give that lawyer of his any grounds to say we tainted this investigation.”

Tobin wants to argue, she’s rarely taken a single day off since she started and she hated the idea of being cut out of the investigation completely, but she also doesn’t want to give Eric any way out so she nods her head again and says, “Understood.”

“Good,” her captain says coming to his feet and stepping around his desk. “You’re one of the best young detectives we’ve had here in years,” he admits walking with Tobin to the door. 

“Thank you sir,” Tobin says taken by surprised by his words. 

He opens the door and looks out over the detective desks, eyes landing on Tobin and Kelley’s desks, where Christen and Anna still wait and he asks, “That her?”

“Uh, yea,” Tobin says as she scratches behind her ear nervously, “Yea, that’s her.”

“I saw you walk in,” he admits with a nod, “You looked happy kid. I’m glad for you.”

“Thanks,” Tobin says, unsure of what else to say at that moment. 

“Alright, get home and we’ll let you know when we have something,” he tells her, giving her a firm pat on the back before turning and heading back to his desk.

“You alright?” Kelley asks her a moment later when she makes it back to their desks.

“Yea,” Tobin nods, “Cap wants me staying so far out of this that I’m not to be in the station until we, or I guess you, close the case.”

“That’s rough,” Kelley says huffing out a breath.

“Tobin, this is because of me,” Christen says coming to her feet.

“Chris, it’s not a big deal,” Tobin assures her, “and he’s right. Me being involved could mean,” Tobin hesitates, eyes drifting to Anna before she continues, “the suspect, gets away.”

Christen hesitates a moment before she nods her agreement, “Alright. So what do we do now?”

“Now,” Tobin says with a smile, “we go home.”

**

_Kelley’s eyes feel like they’re coated with sand as she manages to slowly open them and looks at the clock next to her bed, 0635. That’s when she realizes what it was that woke her up in the first place, her phone was ringing shrilly from the bedside table._

_“Fuck,” Kelley mumbles as she swipes it up and answers it, “This better be good.”_

_“Good morning to you too,” Alex’s voice fills her ears and Kelley can almost see the smile._

_“It’s not a good morning until nine,” Kelley answers back with a huff, letting her face fall back into the pillow beneath her._

_“I take it you had a long night,” Alex says with a sigh, “was this one on purpose?”_

_“If you’re trying to ask me if I’m hung over,” Kelley says, her voice slightly muffled by the pillow, “the answer is yes.”_

_“You know we’re not in college anymore,” Alex says but Kelley can hear that smile again, “we don’t need to keep partying like it.”_

_“Speak for yourself,” Kelley laughs, “It’s the last free weekend we have before we start the academy. I can’t believe I’m about to be back in the classroom with a bunch of eighteen-year olds.”_

_“I have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of you as a cop,” Alex chuckles lightly._

_“That makes two of us,” Kelley admits as she turns her head so she can talk easier. “Did you call me before dawn to tell me that?”_

_“No,” Alex admits with a sigh and her voice turns serious as she ask, “Did you get mail yesterday?”_

_“Mail?” Kelley asks confused, “Probably. I don’t know, we kind of got in late so it’s probably out there. Why are you asking about mail?”_

_“Christen sent out the birth announcement,” Alex answers with a bit on tension in her voice, “I got mine yesterday.”_

_“Shit,” Kelley mumbles, rolling over onto her back, “I’ll call you back.”_

_“Ok,” Alex answers, then hesitates a moment before adding, “Tell Tobin…..it’s going to be alright.”_

_“I’ll try,” Kelley says then hangs up. She lets out a deep sigh before she pushes herself up from the bed and heads for her bedroom door. Part of her was still surprised that she and Tobin had made such good roommates and wasn’t looking forward to when it would end._

_She opens the door and steps out in to the small hallway that connects the two bedrooms to the rest of the apartment. She stops when she reaches the kitchen, standing there is Tobin, back to Kelley and head down as though she’s reading something._

_Kelley hesitates a moment, trying to thing what would be best to say, “You feel half as bad as I do?” is what she settles on._

_“Worse,” is Tobin’s answer, though she doesn’t turn around, Kelley sees her shoulder move slightly._

_“That last shot was one too many huh?” Kelley asks as she steps around her friend so she can see what it is she’s holding. It’s a small card that Kelley can’t see the front of yet and Tobin holds it in both hands, still looking down at it._

_“What’s that?” Kelley asks, though she already knows the answer._

_“Chris had a baby,” Tobin’s answer is low, barely a whisper but she hands the card over to Kelley._

_“Anna Stacy,” Kelley reads the name from the card, looking at the picture that accompanies the name, “Cute kid.”_

_“She looks like Chris,” Tobin answers looking up at Kelley. There’s something in her eyes that Kelley can’t put a finger on. Tobin has carried a look of pain and aching with her since the day of the wedding but that’s not what’s there now._

_“She does,” Kelley nods, “You ok?”_

_“Yea, I think so,” Tobin nods her head, “Chris is going to be a great mom,” Tobin sighs then adds, “Wish I had the chance to meet the kid.”_

_“Hey,” Kelley says, setting the birth announcement down on the counter, “how about we get changed and hit the track? You’re last run was a off by a few seconds and you want to run circles around the other recruits Monday don’t you?”_

_There’s a pause before Tobin offers her a nod and a tight smile, “Thanks Kelley.”_

_“It’s what I’m here for,” Kelley answers with a wide smile, “now get your ass moving.”_

Kelley looks at the frame sitting on the corner of Tobin’s desk, the one that still contains Anna’s birth announcement and bites her lip in thought. Tobin and Christen had left the station a few minutes ago, along with Anna, heading to Chris’s father house for the afternoon. 

“We better find something,” Kelley mumbles to herself, beginning to feel a bit on edge. She comes to her feet, pulling her firearm from the locked drawer in her desk and tucking it into the holster around her shoulders. 

“Where you heading O’Hara?” another detective asks her as she heads to the door. 

“Let the Captain know I’m going to canvas the last crime scene,” Kelley says then doesn’t wait for him to say anything before she pushes her way out of the building. 

There was no way in hell she was going to let anyone ruin things when her friends had finally found each other again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope it was worth the wait. We're coming to an end here soon with this story, only a few more chapters to go.


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